


The One That I Want

by crystalish



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, I'm Sorry, Lesbian Character, Pansexual Character, crygi, crystal has a boyfriend, gigi is a hopeless lesbian, gigixcrystal, it will get better i promise, slowburn, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26935534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalish/pseuds/crystalish
Summary: Crystal has a boyfriend, she wants to dump him but she can't.Gigi is a hopeless lesbian, with a cold attitude.Crystal is a rainbow.Gigi is black and white.These two women have to work together.
Relationships: Gigi Goode/Crystal Methyd
Comments: 69
Kudos: 72





	1. Crystal Elizabeth Methyd and Gigi Goode

**Author's Note:**

> So babies, here we are at the beginning of a new story.  
> I hope you will enjoy it as much as i did while writing.  
> I started to write this because of baddies, so here's to you my baddies <3  
> And also i got help throughout the whole story from my lovely friends, i can't name all of you but you know yourself and you know i love you more ;)  
> I will be leaving here some song suggestions for you to listen to it while reading the chapter, if you want ofc  
> The song of this chapter is; you keep me hangin' on - glee cast  
> (yeah a lot of glee songs will be here)  
> -Ness.

It had been two weeks since she moved to Los Angeles, and some of the boxes were in Crystal's room still waiting to be opened. Every morning when she got up from her bed and saw the boxes in the corner of the room waiting to be opened and placed, she was telling herself that she would definitely put her stuff that day. For about a week she had planned to open those boxes every day. The boxes were still waiting.

When she was getting out of bed, she looked at her lover, who was still asleep. Brad turned to his side of the bed, he was seeming to be asleep. Crystal had learned that she no longer needed to be quiet to not to wake him up. Her lover slept until evening, whatever Crystal did, even if he woke up, he wouldn't get out of bed.

Crystal felt her heart aching for a moment. Brad's change over the past few months affected Crystal the most, who lived with him. She met Brad through her father, because Brad was a cook like her father and worked in the same restaurant as her father. Crystal's father was actually head chef there, Brad had started working as one of the assistant cooks there three years ago. Brad came into Crystal's life when her father invited other employees to their home for dinner.

She remembered that night, Brad had his dark hair in a small bun on the back of his head, his dark brown eyes were shining, he had a warm smile on his face, and he looked so good in jeans and a lumberjack shirt. He came home with two bottles of red wine, Crystal preferred white wine over red, but she had a lot of fun drinking two glasses that night. That evening before Brad left the house, he had received the young girl's number while helping Crystal in the kitchen. During their second date, they formalized their relationship. Crystal wasn't sure if she fell in love with Brad, it was easy to talk to him, Brad always had something to tell her, and Crystal was happy to listen. They had an easy relationship, until Brad was laid off.

According to Brad, he was supposed to be promoted now, but his boss said he didn't need it, he had already gotten the necessary raise. After arguing about this a few times, Brad stated that he would either get a promotion or quit, and his boss gave his exit, saying that he did not need to resign. Brad was really shaken. Crystal was trying to help him in every way, as she had done since moving into Brad's house a year and a half ago. She had made him rest at home to get his head together for a few weeks. Meanwhile, she was able to manage the house alone using her savings. Two weeks later, Brad was looking for work again, but without success.

At first, Crystal really thought job opportunities were scarce, and while searching for suitable job postings to help Brad, she realized that wasn't true. There were many places looking for cooks. Brad just didn't like those places, the people working, or it’s salary enough to apply.

Crystal earned money by selling the jewelry, paintings she made herself at home, sometimes repairing the clothes she bought from second-hand shops, and selling new things she created online. She was making enough money to take care of herself. But not enough to support a two-person house. Brad pretended to check job postings all over the state, and he spent the whole day in bed and spent hours at night on his phone, often playing games.

One day, while she was talking on the phone with her very close friend Jackie from high school, she couldn't help but cry. Crystal was crying, Jackie was used to it, but what Crystal was saying made her worry about her. Crystal was one of the best-hearted people Jackie has ever known. Jackie knew that Crystal always helps anyone in need of help as best as she could, and now she felt Crystal was overwhelmed and upset when she was helping Brad.

"I don't know if I need to remind you that Brad is a grown man at 30 who has to take care of himself, but he is Crys." Jackie said, if her friend was in front of her she would grab her arms and shake her. 

“I know you want to help him but you did. You helped him, Crystal. You have to think about yourself now, after all, if you don't get the necessary materials, how can you continue to make jewelry or paint? "

Jackie attributed Crystal's silence on the other end of the line to trying to hide her cry. She took this opportunity, and reopened the subject she had been trying to persuade Crystal since they graduated from high school.

"Maybe it's time to move to Los Angeles, what do you think?" Jackie waited for the young woman to think a little bit, then said, "You know my door is always open to you, you can come to me, you can stay with me until you get things done, I'm sure you can sell your paintings here without even having to post them online."

After Crystal finished her phone conversation with Jackie, she went to the bedroom they shared with Brad and pulled away the duvet from Brad.

"Boo, we're moving to Los Angeles."

***

Shortly after that conversation, thanks to what was left of Crystal's savings, they moved to LA. Crystal didn't think Brad and Jackie could live in the same house right now, even though Jackie insisted she can stay with her. It was hard for anyone even for Crystal to live with the new Brad. She had rented a small furnished apartment within walking distance of Jackie. Crystal had not bought household items such as furniture because she had moved to Brad's house. They had sold Brad's belongings so they could pay the first two months of rent.

Crystal thought Brad would feel a little better with this change, start looking for a job again, and the old Brad would come back. But it had been two weeks since they moved, and Brad was even worse than before. Crystal had no idea what to do anymore. She was thinking that she had tried everything to cheer Brad on. She knew Brad had some kind of admiration, so she even went to buy herself a cheerleader costume and tried to seduce him. It could not be said that it worked. 

Except for Brad, this change was good for Crystal. She met often with Jackie, whom she could meet once or twice a year, before she moved here. Jackie had been working as a Cast-Director for a while, responsible for many projects of the agency she was affiliated with, and was successful at her job. Crystal was proud of her friend. While Crystal continued to sell her crafts and art online, she also visited a few galleries in the neighborhood and left her portfolio. There had been no returning yet, but Jackie was saying they would definitely come back and fight for Crystal. Two weeks Crystal had done well, but at a point where she didn't even know what to do anymore.

She was meeting with Jackie for lunch that day, so she spent the morning at home working on a painting she couldn't finish. She passed over her breakfast eating only coffee and a banana. When she had an hour left to leave the house, she collected her paint tubes, took a shower and put on a long red skirt, a pink sleeveless and short blouse, did not like to dry her hair, took the wetness with a towel and used mousse to get her scarlet curls in shape. The weather was so hot that she could not even think of applying makeup, she wore three different necklaces in gold-pink-purple color, put a few rings on her fingers, and took her bag and left the house.

She had stopped telling Brad where she was going, after all, he wouldn't wake up until she got home. When she reached the cafe where she was meeting with Jackie, she noticed that the dark-haired Iranian woman was sitting at a table for two by the window. She walked straight next to her and sat opposite of her.

"Hi beauty." As soon as she saw her friend, she had forgotten the man she left at home.

Jackie smiled big, “I'm so used to you being late now that I walked instead of taking a taxi to arrive late today.”

Crystal shrugged, "I'm not being late, everybody's coming too early."

Jackie rolled her eyes and told the waiter they could order now, she ordered a caesar salad for herself, and Crystal asked for a tuna sandwich.

"Yes, are there any news?" Jackie asked, raising her eyebrows. Dark brown eyes searched for answers in Crystal's eyes.

“Not really. We keep looking for a new job for him, but online sales are not going bad. " Crystal gasped in anguish.

"Are you two looking for a job or is it just you?"

Crystal forced herself to smile, “I'm sure Brad's going through the job postings too, so we don't see each other that much at home. You know, his sleeping routine has changed a little recently. "

Jackie nodded, "Crystal, I don't know what else to tell you." Meanwhile, the waiter had come to their table with his orders, so Jackie was silent and waited for the employee to leave. "Because of someone irresponsible, you don't have to put yourself in the same bad spot with them. You are not his mother. Let him take care of himself, I am sure that the moment you stop feeding him like a mother bird he will get up and start taking care of himself. " Jackie looked intently into her friend's eyes, Crystal staring at her plate, tearing her sandwich into pieces.

"You know I'm right in what I said." added Jackie.

Crystal raised her full eyes and looked at her friend. “I can't, Jackie. Right now, I can't let him go while he's like this. " She swallowed and smiled, "I just need to work a little more, maybe I can get another job so Brad can get a job as he wants without rushing, then he'll be back."

Jackie looked at the redhead and smiled. She knew she shouldn't go any further about this. "There is one more topic I want to talk to you about."

Crystal had tossed a piece of bread in her mouth, raised her eyebrows to express her curiosity. Jackie continued, "I have a new project, a photo shoot for a new collection of a sportswear brand, I actually got along with two models, who are also friends of mine, but one of them canceled the job almost at the last minute." Jackie exaggerated in this part and rolled her eyes, "I'm not surprised at Nicky actually, no matter how good she is at her job, sometimes she can disrupt her work because of her private life."

Crystal was listening attentively to Jackie as she continued to eat her sandwich, waiting for where the topic would go.

"I thought of you instead of the missing model, as I knew you were open to new business opportunities."

"What?" Crystal coughed to swallow the bite caught in her throat, “Me? I'm not even a model, what do I know about a photo shoot? "

Jackie laughed, “Crystal, believe me it's a lot easier than making those jewelry. And don't you ever look in the mirror? You have a great physique, your face is very characteristic and not to mention your charisma. I say these not as a lesbian, but as an expert involved in this business."

Crystal felt her cheeks blush, “Thank you for your kind words, but I don't really think it's a proper job for me.”

"2000 dollars a day."

Crystal dropped the sandwich in her hand.

***

Gigi arrived at the studio just in time, she was wearing comfortable sports shorts and a T-shirt, had bought an iced americano before breakfast and drank halfway through. The set was set up in a dance studio, the crew must have come to work much earlier, because Gigi saw that most of the work had been done. Gigi was delighted with that, she used to behave like a professional should be, and when there were people around her who didn't take the job seriously, she was both nervous and angry.

When one of the set assistants saw that Gigi was coming, he immediately came to her, "Welcome Ms. Goode, if you want, we can get you immediately for makeup and hair."

Gigi nodded, her raven-black hair was in a ponytail on top, she had only moisturized and sunscreen on her face, because of she had been modeling for years, she was paying close attention to her skin while off set. Staying in makeup for hours, set lights, camera flashes were damaging her skin more than necessary.

She followed the assistant boy to the reserved dressing table and settled in the high chair. She looked around for Jackie, who was both the Cast-Director of this project and her friend. She could not see anyone familiar, she had only worked with the photographer on the same projects several times before, she knew him.

She was sipping her cold coffee and surfing on her phone, she heard the familiar voice she had been waiting for, "Good morning Miss Goode!"

Gigi stood up from her chair with a smile and saw Jackie coming towards her, "Good morning campers!" she said with a chuckle. This joke was about a funny memory they had at the LGBT + camp where they went with a few friends.

Jackie had heard about this campsite from a girl she had just met at the time, and she said she was having a great time there, so Jackie convinced her group of friends to go to the camp. They all bought camping gear, and Gigi was so seriously prepared for the camp that she spent hours searching online. When they arrived at the campsite it was late, so they decided to stay in the dorm hosted by the facility and set up their tents the next day.

Gigi, Jackie, Nicky, Jaida all stayed in the same room. When Gigi woke up in the morning, she realized that she was alone in the room, she took the shower supplies with her and went outside to look for the shower first. She came out of the dorm's doors and saw through the glass doors that her friends were standing right in front of the door and talking. 

"Good morning campers!" she called to her friends. She had to swallow when she turned her eyes in the direction where her friends were looking.

This was not just an LGBT + friendly camp, it was a nudist camp. Nicky said "Good morning Miss Goode." to her, with a weird expression on her face. 

Nobody could say a simple good morning to Gigi anymore, the young woman did not complain about this situation. "You look great." Jackie said with her usual courtesy.

Gigi shrugged, "I know."

Jackie laughed, had known Gigi for a few years, and although they were only communicating for business when they first met, Jackie stubbornly broke Gigi's shells and became her friend. Gigi was picky but loyal about her friends. She had learned not to let everyone she met into her world, people could call her cold, dull, queen of ice, slut, smug, sullen.

On one occasion she even heard a set worker call her a "robot". It didn't bother her. She liked to look like this so that people wouldn't approach her and she wouldn't have to deal with unnecessary people. Her numerous friends and a few family members were enough for her. She could find a beautiful woman to accompany her whenever she wanted. That was definitely enough for Gigi.

"Hello! I'm Crystal, you must be Gigi, I'm so excited to be working together with you."


	2. Gigi meets Crystal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babies, since the first chapter and also this chapter is short, I'm posting this one very quickly :)
> 
> The song for this chapter is; Hello by Glee Cast ;)

"Hello! I'm Crystal, you must be Gigi, I'm so excited to be working together with you." 

Gigi looked at the talking girl, her wavy red hair running down her shoulders, Gigi questioned for a moment if she was a natural redhead, but her skin was a healthy tan, she couldn't be sure. There was a red gloss on her lips and her face was shining with the highlighter she was wearing, Gigi couldn't understand why the girl was wearing makeup if she came here to modeling. 

Then her eyes found the girl's eyes, and for a moment she realized that the hazel eyes were staring at her own, and for a moment she thought her body was shaking. For a very short moment. After a few seconds she couldn't decide if she really felt anything like that.

The girl, who she learned her name was Crystal, continued to speak, "I'm really excited, I'm going to do something like this for the first time after all, actually Jackie's speech on the way made me less stressed, but now when I see you I panicked again." 

She was talking so excitedly that the bracelets that covered her wrist were clinking as she moved her hands. "You really look great, how can I pose next to you?" Gigi was able to take her eyes off her when redhead turned her eyes widely into Jackie. "Jackie I think I should go home."

"Crystal go and sit in the make-up seat, or you're really going to get a butt spank!" Jackie said in an authoritative tone.

Thereupon, redhead brought her shoulders down and went to the table where her name was written. Trying not to look at the girl, Gigi sat back down in her chair, with Jackie next to her.

"Who is this girl?" she asked quietly.

Jackie smiled with a big smile, “Oh, Crystal is my high school friend, she recently moved here and needed an extra job so I hired her.” The Iranian girl was grinning now, "Yes, I know she is inexperienced, but I'm sure she will do a great job." 

"I'm not at all." Gigi just mumbled. When the make-up artist came to her and explained her look he was about to make, she had only the red lips of the redhead girl in her mind.

Since the content of this project is sportswear, Gigi was given a very natural-looking make-up, only red eyeliner was drawn on her eyes, and her lashes were emphasized. Gigi was happy with the result, she knew it looked beautiful.

They made her long black hair into a tight ponytail, starting with a thick braid in front of her head and concealing it in a ponytail. It was perfect. She got up from the make-up chair, took quick steps into the dressing room and put on the clothes she was determined for. When she got out of the cabin, she was wearing a red sports leggings and a black sports bra.

She entered the set prepared for the shooting and greeted the photographer. She remembered Henry from her previous projects, he was someone easy to work with.

"Yeah, let's start with you first, Gigi." Henry said as he adjusted the camera to Gigi's height. "How are you today?"

Gigi rolled her eyes, "Whenever you're ready, Henry." she said and posed.

***

After the desired photos were taken with her first outfit, Gigi returned to the dressing room to wear the other outfit. After the black and red suit, she wore an all-white suit. She wore a white hoodie, which is showing parts of her sports bra, and below it is one of the cycling shorts that end above the knee. After showing herself to the editor and getting his approval, she returned to the corner where the frame was adjusted.

While she was changing her outfit, they had begun shooting the second model. The girl, whom she remembers her name as Crystal, stood in a ridiculous pose in the middle of the lights. Her first combination was a yellow sports bra and purple tights that did not reach to the ankles. The colors of her clothes contrasted beautifully with her hair. 

They had made the curls of the girl's hair more clear, creating a slightly wet look and combing it back. She noticed that the make-up she had earlier, when Gigi saw her for the first time, must have been wiped off completely, now her face was shining with a healthy wetness. 

Gigi also noticed that the redhead girl had the purple version of the eyeliner look she had, she couldn't decide whether the pinkness on her lips was natural or makeup. The natural tan of her skin carried the yellow color on it very well. Gigi knew she could never wear that yellow hue on her dead-white skin like that.

The clothes really fit the girl, but she didn't know how to pose at all. It felt like she was posing for her friend's phone. When she looked at Henry, she realized that he had noticed this too. He was instructing Crystal to get in a better shape, Crystal was listening to him, but she wasn't so good at performing it.

"You have to separate your feet a little more, but keep one foot slightly ahead of the other." said the photographer.

Crystal giggled and followed, but the desired result did not come out. She could tell it by the photographer's dissatisfied expression. "Hot!" Crystal laughed and put her hands on her waist. "I think you shouldn't miss this." she winked at the photographer and grinned.

Henry looked up from the camera and looked at the model opposite, and couldn't help laughing like her. "I definitely can't get the look I want, but I guess I'll be satisfied with what I got."

Redhead bounced on the ground, clapping her hands, "It's fun!" she said. "What would you like me to do now?"

Gigi rolled her eyes at the sight of what she saw, she should have been furious right now because of the girl, who is trying to become a new model, but she realized that she wasn't that angry. In fact, she almost smiled as she watched her goofy gestures. 

She went over to Jackie, who was watching the shoot like her, "It's going really great, just like you said." Gigi said.

Jackie replied without taking her eyes off of her friend, who has all the flashlights on, "Give her some time, I haven't seen Crystal fail at any job that she took on."

Gigi laughed, "Then keep watching well, the first one is coming."

Jackie looked over her shoulder at the tall girl, "Actually, I thought you'd get along with Crystal."

"Why do we get along well?" Gigi's voice sounded too cold even to herself, "I don't think it is necessary to deal with someone with whom I will work for a day."

"Oh," Jackie said, turning her eyes towards Crystal, who was trying to pose again. "I see."

Gigi followed her, looking at the new girl. The poses Gigi now gave reflexively made this girl look like an alien. So Henry wanted the girl to just be comfortable and pose as she thought she was beautiful. Crystal did so.

Soon Crystal went to the dressing room and hurried back to be photographed with Gigi, wearing her other outfit. When Gigi glanced at the girl with the corner of her eye, she saw that she was in an all-black suit. She appeared beside her in a black mesh jacket and black mini-shorts. Gigi had to focus her eyes solely on the lens of the camera in order not to examine the redhead's shapely legs. She thought that she should go somewhere and find a partner for herself.

Before getting behind his camera, Henry looked at the models, “Yes, we have little work left, I want you to be in touch with each other now. It's like two very close friends going for a run together, or going to the same gym and meeting there and becoming very close friends. ”

He raised his two thumbs, "Okay?"

Crystal sang eagerly, "All right, captain!"

"If two women are together, of course they have to be close friends, right Henry?" Gigi couldn't help herself.

Henry didn't seem to understand, "Excuse me?"

"I think Gigi tried to explain that the usual stereotypes are now obsolete and that the only relationship two women can have is not only friendship, of course they can be lovers."

Gigi turned to the redhead girl in surprise, or? She thought through it. She reminded herself right after that it didn't matter. It didn't matter whether Crystal was a lesbian or not. It didn't matter whether Crystal might like her or not.

"Ladies, whatever you say," Henry began, "I agree with you, but please let's get started."

Crystal laughed again, "We can show a relationship different from the "friendship" if you want," she showed herself with her hands, "so I have no doubt that I can express any relationship in my poses."

Gigi couldn't resist her smile, even giggled. "I don't think there will be a problem if you adapt to me."

When Gigi felt the lights on herself again, she picked up her expression. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the girl, who, after making sure that her clothes were in order, could not decide what to do with herself. She took the Redhead's hand and wrapped it with her own hand, intertwined their fingers. Crystal's hand was smaller than her own, and almost disappeared between her long and thin fingers. She liked the warmth she felt in her hand. She did not let the heat spread over her entire body. She threw one foot forward as if taking a step, and raised the other hand a little to make it look like she was walking. After that moment, the flashes started to flash.

She was changing her pose after making sure that Crystal also adapted to her pose. Gigi was on her heels, Crystal looked back over her shoulder, Gigi stood up, one of her long arms wrapped around Crystal's waist, Crystal's back turned to camera while Gigi was standing and her body was directly looking at the camera, Gigi made Crystal's scarlet hair hang over her shoulder so that the cleavage on the back of her jacket would look better. Scarlet hair smelled like coconut. Gigi instantly regretted that she noticed this.

When she posed like this before, her partner was a man and Gigi was in Crystal's position. Her closeness with her partner hadn't bothered her at the time, it was only a bit upset that the boy caught her after the shooting and asked for her number.

Now she regretted pulling the girl with her arm around her waist. She held her head straight and looked straight into the camera, she could tell that Crystal wasn't turning her face to the camera, but she wasn't sure what exactly she was displaying. Henry was pressing the shutter button without stopping, excitedly, as if he liked what he saw. While thinking of moving to the next pose, Gigi winced, feeling a touch on her chin.

Crystal turned Gigi's face to her face with her index finger, hazel eyes found the tall girl's blue eyes, and quietly "Just like girlfriends." she whispered.

Gigi swallowed, Crystal lowered her hand, the shutter button sound continued. The black-haired girl said to herself, "It doesn't matter." she continued to repeat. On the contrary, the scarlet-haired girl's smiling lips, hazel eyes, coconut-smelling hair, and bushy lashes didn't feel like it didn't matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls share your comments with me, I promise next chapters are much longer ^^  
> You can find me @methyds on twitter, love you more.  
> -Ness.


	3. Bubblegum Bitch Cries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello hello, thanks b for helping me with songs, and berk for helping me with translating 🙃  
> The songs for this chapter are; Bubblegum bitch - Marina and the Diamonds  
> Cry - Carly Rae Jepsen  
> You can find me @methyds on twitter, love you all <3  
> -Ness.

A couple days after her first photoshoot, Crystal was making last adjustments on her latest painting. She was adding glares with a thin brush on the woman silhouette she was drawing. After a few brush strokes, she pulled herself back from her painting and looked at it with an artist's perspective.

On the canvas in front of her, a tall and slender woman with icy blue eyes stared directly into Crystal’s soul. The woman’s long black hair was covering her private parts off her pale body. She was standing there like she was hovering in the air. The painting looked black and white except the icy blue eyes. Crystal smiled gladly after she examined all the details.

She wasn't sure if it was ethical to draw a woman she just met a couple days ago but she knew she should have painted the image in her head. Gigi Goode shook her world. When she first met the woman with icy blue eyes, she couldn't stop herself from constantly talking. She looked absolutely perfect. Crystal felt lucky even just for meeting with such a perfect woman like Gigi.

Crystal didn't learn anything about Gigi even though they spent almost all day working together. Usually Crystal was good with people and got to know them easily but not in this case. She wasn't sure if she did something that made Gigi uncomfortable. She blamed the excitement of being on the first day of a new job, in a completely foreign environment to her.

Also, according to Jackie, she should not have taken Gigi's words or actions personally. Although she asked why, she didn't get a certain answer from Jackie. 

“Gigi is very kind-hearted and one of the most honest people I've ever seen, but overall she likes being distant from people. So if she's distant towards you too, please don't take it personally.” said her Persian friend.

Crystal left the painting to dry, picked up the dye tubes, looked at the man sleeping in the bed when she went into the bedroom to take a shower. She felt sorry for Brad, but no longer knew what to do to bring him back to life. She had found numerous job postings for him to apply for, had spoken to him for hours, tried to encourage him to decide what he wanted to do, even if he didn't want to work as a cook. None of them seemed to have worked. Crystal felt tired down to her bones.

She never thought she could find herself in such a relationship at any point in her life. She just wished she was lucky enough to meet her soul mate. Previously, there was hope that Brad could become that person. She was sure now that the man sleeping in her bed had no way of becoming her soul mate. This thought was enough to make her eyes tearful. 

She hated being a desperate romantic at that moment. She had wished for herself what her father and mother had. A relationship that she would feel lucky to have each other every day. The only relationship that remained with Brad anymore was being roommates. 

In order not to cry, she bit her lower lip and took clean clothes from her wardrobe and locked herself in the bathroom. She would never have thought that she would lock the bathroom in the house where she lived with her boyfriend. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to cry because she was in a terrible situation that was not her fault.

She felt the vibration of her phone coming from her pocket. When she picked up the phone, she saw that it was Jackie, took a few deep breaths and pushed back the tears. She didn't want to cry every time she spoke to Jackie.

"Hey beauty." she answered the phone. She prayed that she would not understand the tremor in her voice.

***

Gigi looked herself up and down for the last time in the mirror. Her pale yellow jumpsuit wrapped around her body, with half sleeves, buttoned down to the waist, and reached down to her ankles. She wore a thin chain belt around her waist. She had waved her black hair and pushed it behind her shoulders, she had shaped her bangs and cut them in half, and made sure they would stay that way through the night. She applied her make-up in natural tones. She chose the high-heeled shoes in white and the small bag in black and completed the look. 

When she left her room, she met her roommate Nicky. She had been living with Nicky, who modeled like her, for a long time. Nicky left her hometown in France and moved to Los Angeles to find better opportunities at her job. When they first met, Gigi immediately liked the girl because she was colder than anyone else to Gigi. 

Gigi knew herself very well and she was sure that Nicky had the same personality. Like her, the French woman was someone who could not trust the other person immediately and who could not open herself completely from the first day. You needed time to get to know her. On the other hand, Gigi immediately noticed their resemblance to each other and, although she did not do it often, took the first step that day and met Nicky. Obviously luck was on her side, she and her chemistry had been very good with Nicky. Indeed, they've had a really good relationship since the day they met. Although they were two grumpy models living in the same house, they almost never quarreled, they did not neglect to spend time with each other as much as they respect each other's space.

Nicky created an all-black combination with a mini skirt, short sequin top, over-the-knee boots and a french beret. Her long blonde hair stood out much more now. She wore her long black eyeliner make-up, now identified with the young woman, and she looked breathtaking. Anyone who knew that Gigi was a lesbian and Nicky was bisexual thought the two had a relationship other than roommates. Gigi could understand why, but she wasn't jumping on every beautiful woman she saw, just because she liked people of her own sex. 

She saw Nicky as her sister, and was sure the French beauty was not looking at her in any other way. They were tired of explaining to people who insisted that the two had something more than friendship, that’s why they stopped explaining that they were only friends.

"Tu es magnifique!" Gigi said in her friend's native language. Nicky spoke French when she could not contain her excitement, and over time Gigi learned a few sentences in French. The most common one was "You look great!".

Nicky laughed in appreciation of her roommate's effort, "Oh, don't talk to me as if you weren't looking in the mirror." They usually didn't talk to each other that kindly, but sometimes they also liked to show how much they appreciated each other.

Gigi checked the contents of her bag, her driver's license, electronic cigarette, lipstick, keys and phone were with her. "If you are ready, shall we leave?" she asked her blonde friend.

With Nicky's approval, they left the house. They were heading to their friend Jackie's house, who was sitting about 25 minutes' walk away. The warm breeze of the air and the pink reflections of the sunset in the sky caused the two women to travel on foot.

Jackie had invited the not-so-small group of friends to a pizza party at home. Most of the friends they try to get together with whenever they get the chance would be at the party tonight. Gigi, who dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles, had an expanding circle of friends since the day she arrived. Although she was very picky about friends, there was a group of friends that were often too crowded to fit into one table. She thought she was lucky with the people around her.

She had a roommate like Nicky, there was Jackie she could always rely on at work, there was Brita who would make her laugh instantly whenever she wasn't feeling very well, there was Heidi who was always ready to join her when she wanted to dance, there was Jan who she could run into when she got stuck in her private life , and there was her manager, Jaida, who always thought of her well-being first. 

When Gigi walked into Jackie's apartment, she just expected to see her friends. Apparently, Jackie was not loyal to the usual cast this time and had invited another stranger. It wasn't hard to notice the scarlet-haired girl while taking drinks out of the refrigerator in the open kitchen. Crystal dropped the two bottles of wine on the counter and looked at the people who just arrived with a big smile.

After Jackie let her friends in, she went back to the kitchen to take wine glasses from the cupboards. "Salam girls!" she greeted her friends as usual. "We thought we'd have a glass until the pizzas arrived, what do you think?" 

In the large living room where Jaida and Brita were seated, Gigi took a seat on the large sofa. She did not neglect to send kisses to her friends while she was sitting. 

Nicky sat between Brita and Jaida, "Now that you ordered the pizzas before we arrived, I hope you haven't forgotten to ask for a vegetarian.” The French looked with a threatening smile at her friends on either side.

Brita laughed, "We ordered a pizza with only pineapples on it for you."

"I'd rather eat you than eat pineapple pizza, Princess Pineapple." Nicky showed her teeth and threatened to grab her Hawaiian friend's arm and bite it. Brita got rid of Nicky with extravagant acting, but her laughter lasted longer.

Gigi realized how much she missed this environment in which she felt safe. She looked at Jaida, who was both her manager and a very close friend, who was a master at not mixing the two jobs. The black woman looked a little thoughtful tonight, she could see that her mind was not here with them. "Boss," Gigi called, "are you okay?"

Jaida turned her big brown eyes to Gigi, "I'm fine, why did you ask?" she smiled. "Don't I look good enough?"

Gigi smiled along with her, "You look great, but you seem a little thoughtful." She gazed into her friend's eyes and searched for the answer there, "Is there a problem?"

Jaida laughed more broadly, "Oh yes," she said with ease, "I was thinking something about work, but it has nothing to do with you." She put her hand on the long fingers of the black-haired girl and squeezed it as if to comfort, "You're right, now I have to stop thinking about business." Gigi took Jadia's hand with her other hand and responded in the same way.

"Are Jan and Heidi not coming?" Nicky asked the question loudly so that Jackie could hear it in the open kitchen.

Jackie, who came to the living room with the tray lined with glasses, shook her head, "No, Jan had to rehearse, as the opening night of her new play approached, they increased the rehearsals.” 

She placed the tray on the large coffee table in the middle of the seats, “Heidi was also at the family gathering. I think her grandmother's chickens were infected and her uncle wanted to sell them all. ” 

Jackie looked at the girls who had trouble understanding what she was talking about, "Yes, I know, I didn't understand anything either, but she spoke as if it was a very important issue." She shrugged her shoulders and dropped herself into the single seat.

Gigi was watching the girl, who dropped the wine bottles she opened on the coffee table at the time. Her scarlet hair fell in natural waves, and when she stood up, she threw her hair over her shoulders with one hand. The shirt the girl wore was colorful, she wore mini denim shorts, she had a parrot figure in her red necklace, and also seemed to use any color she could use in her makeup. Still, Gigi couldn't understand how she looked so good.

When Crystal looked around, she realized that the only place she could sit was next to Gigi. She poured white wine into a glass for herself and went over to the black-haired girl. She had met Brita and Jaida before Gigi and her blonde friend arrived. Jackie even told Jaida that Crystal needed an agent urgently and it would be great if they could agree. Crystal didn't think her modeling career would go as far as Jackie thought it would.

Although she enjoyed her first photo shoot, when she saw a professional there she immediately realized how unsuccessful she was. Gigi was a great model and Crystal knew she could never be as good as her. So when Jaida gave her her number and asked her what career path she was planning, she stood there like a deer in the headlights. She didn't know, she said that to Jaida as well. She explained that she was doing it now only because she had to, she wasn't sure how successful she would be, and she didn't know what to do next. 

Jaida welcomed it in the best possible way. She even told her that she could arrange a portfolio for her with a few test shoots so that she could see what kind of work she did at the beginning. Crystal couldn't be more grateful.

Brita, a musical theater actress, was very friendly towards Crystal. Crystal understood that the woman, whom she knew was older than her, was an open door to everyone like her.

Then came Gigi and her blond friend. Jackie must have forgotten to introduce her to the blonde girl, so Crystal laughed and held out her hand. "Hello, we haven't met yet, I'm Crystal, I'm Jackie's friend from high school."

Nicky immediately grabbed the girl's hand, "Nice to meet you Crystal, I’m Nicky," laughed when she looked at Jackie, "I can say we're colleagues with Jackie." She winked at the Persian woman, "Without her, I would have been out of work until now."

Crystal laughed as she leaned back on the sofa, and Jackie had filled her glass with red wine and drank halfway down, “Nicky may be the laziest model I know.”

"Oh, you are a model too." Crystal said. Nicky's blue eyes shone in her wheat skin, her features were sharp but her proportion was perfect. A good decision, Crystal thought, this beauty of the blonde woman could not be wasted.

Nicky nodded, while Jackie continued to speak, "When you canceled that sportswear photoshoot, I convinced Crystal for that job, and thanks to me a new star is born!" she pointed at Crystal with her hands.

The young woman could feel her blushing, "I'm completely amateur and I don't know how much more work I can get with this clumsiness." she said, covering her face with her hands.

"So you worked with Gigi?" Nicky was staring at her roommate now, "I didn't know you met Crystal."

"Did you need to know?" Gigi said carelessly. "Yes, we worked together and it looks like she is now in our group of friends."

Crystal opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to say, everyone else was sincere to her so she didn't think she might bother them. She lowered her eyes to her hands.

“Gigi,” Jackie said in a warning tone, “Crystal is a very old and very close friend of mine, and of course I wanted to introduce her to you, my friends in this city.” The brunette woman had a serious mother expression on her face. She seemed to be scolding her child, who had embarrassed her in front of the guests.

Crystal put down her glass on the coffee table, "I'd better go." managed to say. She had made a move to stand up when she realized that her arm was caught.

"No, you don't need to go." White long fingers contrasted against her tan skin, clutching her arm. Crystal realized she was holding her breath, Gigi was staring directly at her, and she couldn't show her that she was excited by just the hand, which was holding her arm.

"I don't want to bother." she said. The door knocked as everyone watched the two women. 

Jackie jumped up and clapped her hands, “The pizzas have arrived, everyone stays where they are and don't move.” Then she had already gone to the door.

Crystal looked at Gigi. Knowing that she was disturbing the woman sitting next to her with her presence, it would be difficult to be there. As if reading her thoughts, the black-haired girl gently relaxed her fingers on the arm she was holding. 

As she pulled her hand out, “I didn't tell you to go, I didn't say I was uncomfortable. Don't take my words out of context, I didn’t say anything like that. " she whispered and turned her ice-blue eyes to the host who placed the pizza boxes on the coffee table. 

***

After a few hours, the empty pizza boxes were left in the kitchen, the wine bottles were gone, the voices in the house got louder, and everyone's laughter was mingling. Jackie had hooked her karaoke set to her wall-mounted TV, and with the courage of the wine, the girls were taking the stage one by one on the gray carpet in the middle of the hall.

With the advantage of being a musical theater actress, Brita sang Let It Go, the most popular song in the Frozen musical, and forced all the other girls to give a standing ovation. 

Nicky came out after her on the carpet, and although the machine could not determine how successfully she sang the song because she did not prefer to pick up the microphone, she combined Lady Gaga's Bad Romance song with a great dance performance. It didn't matter how he sang the song. 

After the French girl, Jaida took the microphone. Jaida performed the song Survivor from Destiny’s Child in a great way. Not vocal, of course. Jaida would have been considered a member of that band, too, if they were playing playback and not karaoke. Crystal couldn't help giggling throughout the song. But Jaida didn't mind at all, "Yeah, I know my voice is awful, keep laughing." she returned to her seat.

It was Gigi's turn to go on stage. The tall girl took the microphone, knelt in front of the computer connected to the machine and chose the song she wanted. The Bubblegum Bitch song from Marina and The Diamonds appeared on the screen and Gigi started dancing to the rhythm. The girls were also keeping the beat to the song from their seats and supporting Gigi with whistles.

Gigi was singing the song with her whole body, her gestures, dance moves, even her hair fluttering proved that she was that bitch. Crystal didn't miss that she was changing some parts of the song. Instead of singing the original lyrics "Oh, dear diary, I met a boy, he made my doll heart light up with joy." she said "Oh, dear diary, I met a girl, she made my doll heart light up with joy." Crystal was excited when she noticed the new lyrics. She didn't know why. Lately a lot of things about Gigi have been making Crystal excited.

Gigi sang the song successfully to the end and sent air kisses to her friends in return for applause. She left the microphone to the Redhead before taking her place. Crystal moved toward the computer, emotions turned upside down. She had had a great time with these people in this house in the last few hours, and she had laughed more than she ever did lately. Crystal was always a cheerful person who laughed a lot, who made people laugh with her laughter. But while writing the name of the song she wanted to sing on the computer screen, she knew what had replaced her laughter for the last few months.

Carly Rae Jepsen's emotional song Cry was heard on the music system, and Crystal settled on a stool she pulled in the center of the carpet to sit on. She sang the song without getting up from that stool, and she kept her eyes off the ground. These people she just met did not know what she was going through now, they did not realize what kind of a test she was going through. Only Jackie knew. 

The girl could not dare to look at anyone's face. By the time she got to the middle of the song, she already regretted her choice. Because she couldn't stop crying and now everyone was watching her crying. She could not help herself with a crack in her voice and let go of the microphone and started sobbing.

She instantly found herself in Jackie's arms. The brunette woman had surrounded Crystal in her arms, letting her bury her head in her chest. She was stroking her back with her hands and whispering in her ear to cry as much as she wanted.

The others looked at each other for a while after the scene they watched and checked whether anyone understood what was happening. Each was as puzzled as the other. Jaida went over to the crying girl and put one hand on her back, "Darling, is there anything we can help you with?" she asked tenderly.

Jackie smiled, "I don't think anything is happening, there are just a few problems she has to solve, she'll feel better a little later." she said, thinking that her friend could not answer.

Jadia nodded, "Then we'll leave you alone," she looked at the other girls and pointed her head to the door, "next time I will be the one who is crying." she laughed and heard Crystal giggle as well.

All of them except for Crystal wished good night to each other and left the house. Jackie said she won't let Crystal go anywhere until she's sure she's okay. Their friends left, they were sure that Jackie was doing everything she could, that she would take very good care of the newest member of their group. Except for someone.

The black-haired, taller girl barely pulled her ice blue eyes from the scarlet-haired girl. On the way home, all she thought was that every emotion the girl had could be read on her face, while she was singing. She was sure that Crystal was not crying over problems. Whatever, or whoever, managed to make this smiling girl cry, Gigi wanted to know. She wanted to find out and call them out.

As Nicky pointed to the ice cream parlor on the way, she got rid of her thoughts and followed the blonde girl. There was no need to worry about a girl who was with her friend, who she knew was extremely responsible. And, Gigi Goode wouldn't have anything unnecessary in her life.


	4. Ice blue makes Crystal cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a long chapter, i hope you'll enjoy it :)   
> Songs; the promise - when in rome /total eclipse of the heart - bonnie tyler
> 
> You can always find me @methyds on twitter, love y'all -Ness.

Crystal was relieved to see Jaida in her office. It had been 4 days since their last meeting and Crystal had not been able to meet the other girls again. The last time she saw them, she was crying in Jackie's arms, and now when she saw Jaida, she blushed again in shame. That night, Jackie had talked to her for a long time and insisted she could stay with her. Crystal still decided to return home.

She never expected Jaida to call her yesterday. She went to a high school a few subway stops away to apply to the art teacher cadre. She graduated from art school and her diploma was sufficient for this job. After handing over the written application, they said they would call her, and while walking home, her phone rang.

Jaida told her that they could do the test shoots that she had mentioned, tomorrow and invited her to the agency. Crystal agreed, knowing that she had no better job to do. It wouldn't hurt to try it, she thought. She was now in Jaida’s office on the 4th floor, at the agency where Jaida works, when Jaida saw her coming and got up from the seat behind her desk and greeted her at the door.

"Hello." Crystal said as Jaida pulled her into her arms and hugged her. The young woman was enchanted by her expensive perfume. "Welcome dear." Jaida said as she invited the girl in.

Crystal studied her young manager's office with pleasure, had a minimal style, was generally black and white, and her stuff was very neat. Crystal knew she would never be able to use it like this if it were her office, she would probably lose herself in her mess. She sat in the single seat in front of the table with Jaida's "Sit down, please." and watched the other woman sit in her seat. She didn't want to show too much that she was nervous, but she wasn't sure she could hide it.

"Are you excited?" Jaida asked, the scarlet-haired girl just shook her head with a big smile. Jaida laughed, "Yeah, frankly, I get excited with every new shoot." She opened the drawer under her desk and pulled out a black file and handed it to Crystal. "In this file, you can see samples of the test shots of the models I have represented or still represent."

Crystal carefully picked up the file and began examining the photos inside. Some photos looked very plain, others looked more artistic and different. As the young girl continued to examine the photos, Jaida continued to explain. “We can shoot in many different styles, they are not published anywhere, they are only in your portfolio. So on our website, and they'll go into a dedicated file here. So if we want to propose you for a new project, we will be able to show these photos to the project owner. "

Crystal nodded, "I see." continuing to look at the photos, she encountered a familiar face. When she noticed Gigi's photographs, she took no hurry to turn the page, but carefully studied them all, one by one. In the first photo, Gigi's face was wearing no make-up, looking straight into the camera and looking breathtaking in its most natural form. In another photo, her hair was a bright orange, the same color as the suit she was wearing. Her skirt-jacket suit was all orange buttons and Gigi looked perfect. When her eyes noticed the blond Gigi, she felt she was holding her breath, she wore a long white skirt, a bullet bra of the same fabric, she would never have thought that egg-yellow hair would suit a woman like that. Though she was sure Gigi would make any color look beautiful easily.

She lifted her eyes from the photographs of the woman she knew and looked at Jaida, who was watching her curiously, "I would like to try different hairstyles too." said.

Jaida clapped her hands, “Oh wigs! My favorites! ” She got up from her seat and grabbed her phone, "I think I know what to do for you." After saying she winked at the young girl.

***

Crystal and her fresh manager, Jaida, had their lunch together at a nearby restaurant. While they were eating, they talked about the conditions in which they could work together, and met at a point that made them both happy. They would make it official by signing it as soon as possible. They would be ready for the shoot after lunch, Jaida said. Crystal still didn't know what to do. She just trusted Jaida and hoped she would have fun.

When they got back to the agency, Crystal was immediately called from set assistants, all the make-up was removed from her face, they asked her to wear a plain white t-shirt and black jeans, after which she was ready for the first shots. The photographer just asked her to look at the camera and stand upright. She followed the instructions to turn left and right, looked at the camera, tried not to smile as she always did.

After the photographer captured the poses he wanted, they took Crystal back to the dressing room. With so many people around her, she didn't know how to be herself and come out well in pictures. But at least she would try.

She was put on plain make-up, went to the cabin, put on a red dress, put on long red gloves, grabbed a coat of the same tone over her shoulders, and returned to the make-up chair. As she sat on the chair to have her hair done, she saw the hair stylist coming up with a wavy blonde wig in her hand. Crystal's eyes widened with excitement, and a big smile immediately filled her face.

Hair stylist Brian would have noticed the excitement on the girl's face when he said, “I think someone was excited about wearing a wig.” he said with a wink.

Crystal said, "Oh, yes I said I could wear a wig, but I didn't expect to do it right away." she said excitedly. Brian and his assistant first braided Crystal's long red hair into a tiny bun, put on a bonnet to better fit the wig, then placed the platinum blonde wig and fixed it.

Crystal smiled with satisfaction when she saw the blonde herself in the mirror. "Now I'm starting to think about dyeing my hair." she said, looking at her hair stylist. Brian also seemed happy to share her enthusiasm, “I would never spoil this natural color if I had the opportunity to wear a wig instead.” said.

Crystal sighed, "Then I'll have to spend all the money I've earned on wigs." she chuckled.

After the wig was shaped, Crystal was back in front of the camera, feeling like someone else even though she was wearing only a wig, and surprisingly, it gave her incredible self-confidence. Hidden inside, a confident Crystal had emerged, aware of her good looks and confident she could do whatever she came up with. And she didn't hesitate to show this Crystal to the lens.

Following the red outfits, she wore a more understated black piece, her accessories changed, and even got a fake piercing on her nose. Crystal loved the person she saw in the mirror. She saw in the mirror a rebellious girl doing what she wanted when she wanted it. She really wanted to be that way. She wanted to be free, like she used to be. When she got in front of the camera, she did. She reflected the girl she saw in the mirror and enjoyed it very much.

In her other look, she only wore a long pink fur coat. Her underwear was the same color as her skin, but she had no bra. She wasn't nearly ready to be naked in one of her first shoots, but apparently Jaida thought she could do it. So she didn't object, she draped it over her fur and let her make-up freshen up. Meanwhile, the hair stylist came and reshaped her wig. Her platinum blonde hair now hung over one shoulder. She felt she looked sexy, she knew she looked that way. And she decided to use it. She let go of her hands keeping her fur covered and let her decollete open.

Her last dress was a simple red dress with flowers on it, she was wearing pink boots underneath, they took off the wig and fashioned her natural hair by fluffing it, they gave her a lot of necklaces as Crystal often wore. Crystal knew immediately that this image reflected her. Before getting up from the make-up chair, she picked up the little colorful hairpins on the table, put a few of them in her hair and turned and looked at her hair stylist. Even though Brian didn't appreciate Crystal's style, he shrugged and let the hairpins stay.

She posed confidently for the photographer with her newfound self-confidence. After half an hour, the photographer thanked Crystal and said she could see the photos in a few days.

The young girl was tired, but she felt it was worth it. She couldn't wait to see what she would see when the photos reached her. When she got out of the dressing room in her own clothes, she called Jaida to let her know that she was finished on set.

The other woman said, "I was waiting for you to call." her voice sounded pleasant.

"I called to let you know that I was done on set, I hope I'm not stopping you from work right now." Crystal said, still afraid.

"Ah, absolutely not." Jaida said. "Come to my office, let's have a coffee."

Crystal agreed, hung up the phone and took the elevator into the office, which is only a few floors above, in the same building. Curtains draped the glass walls of Jaida's office, she knocked on the door and opened it slowly. "Can I come in?" she called before she held her head inside.

She saw Jaida sitting in her seat, and the model with the black hair and pale skin was sitting in the seat. Crystal, feeling her ice-blue eyes on herself, suddenly shivered, "Hi." she said to the woman.

Gigi nodded and greeted the young woman, Jaida had begun to speak before her, "Come in, come on, I already ordered our coffees, they'll bring it soon."

Crystal entered the office not very confidently, and sat in the seat opposite the other model. All the confidence she had just gained on set had suddenly disappeared. While this woman sitting across from her looked so effortlessly perfect, Crystal's confidence would of course be lost. Gigi was looking at the girl in such a way that Crystal felt like a plastic bag.

When she looked into the model's eyes, she felt as if she was talking to her. As if Gigi wanted to say something to her but couldn't. Crystal had an idea or two of what that might be. Gigi probably didn't find her good enough to do the same job as her. Crystal agreed. Or she found the girl boring. Crystal was unsure whether she agreed on this point. She didn't think she was that boring, she hadn't had a problem with anyone until she met Gigi. And Crystal was sure that she had always been herself, never pretending.

Another thing she was sure of, Gigi definitely didn't like her. The thought of this was enough to bother her. Crystal had never felt the need to be approved by other people, so if she did, she would neither have studied art at the college, nor would she have her current style. Crystal was just trying to live the way she was happy, but she could not find a cure for this blue-eyed woman to feel like she needed her to be approved, to be content with her presence.

In a few minutes their coffees arrived and Jaida looked at both girls with sly smiles as they sipped their coffee. "I've got great news for you girls." she said as she opened an envelope that was in her hand.

"I got the results of your shoot for the sportswear collection." she said, taking the photos out of the envelope. "Now that I can say I represent Crystal as well, I've duplicated the photos of both of you so we can add them to your file." She looked at Gigi, "Of course you already know these parts."

Gigi shrugged, "You could have sent me these by e-mail, I didn't have to come this far for that."

"I'll send it that way, don't worry, that wasn't the only good news." Jaida said. It was obvious that she was used to Gigi's demeanor. She handed the pictures to the girls, half got Gigi while Crystal took the other half and started examining.

At first she saw the photos of herself, quickly glanced one by one, looking good to her, but she did not want to scrutinize herself. Then came the photos with Gigi and herself in the frame. "Wow." a voice came from her lips. The photos she held looked crucial. She found that, indeed, they were able to project the story they planned on the camera.

In the scenes where she was with the black-haired woman, she saw a young couple and the connection between them was obvious even from the photographs. They looked very intimate, especially when Crystal's fingertips touched Gigi's chin, captured in close-up, and real. The two women fit together like puzzle pieces, as if they were made for each other.

"A new proposal has arrived," Jaida said, making both models look at her, "this will be a continuation of the project and they want you two again."

Crystal looked at the woman across from her before she could stop herself. Gigi was staring at her, she felt as if a cool breeze was coming into her eyes from the ice blue. Crystal couldn’t help but smile, and a small smile formed on the other woman's lips.

***

Gigi walked into the restaurant she had booked for dinner, she showed her polite smile to the hostess girl at the door, and did not try to keep her smile on her face as she was guided to the table reserved for her and her guest. She was taken to the table for two by the window, saying that she would wait for her guest to order. She was happy to find a table in the smoking area, took out her electronic cigarette from her little bag and took a breath of nicotine between her lips while watching the people around her.

She loved watching the people around her, making inferences about them. She had fun imagining the secret lives of others and writing scenarios. She was sure that the man, who was eating with the obviously wife on the next table, was over the age of fifties, and still did not know how to tie his tie himself, he liked BDSM. Of course, his wife didn't know about it, so the man was going to a motel 25 miles outside LA, calling the first escort he found on the internet. He was definitely a submissive.

Gigi chuckled with the images flashing in her mind, inhaling another breath from her electronic cigarette, her eyes catching the familiar face moving towards her. Jan was walking towards her in a hurry because she was late, and although she had an anxious expression on her face, she was smiling.

Jan started talking before Gigi could say anything. “I know, I know I'm late and you're very angry but it's really not my fault. I called the uber at the exact time I got out of the rehearsal, but the director wanted to have a meeting at the last minute, actually it wasn't exactly a meeting, I told the driver to wait but he didn't, so I struggled to find a new uber for half an hour. ” She sat on the chair opposite Gigi, panting, hung her bag on the arm of her chair, reached over the table and grabbed Gigi's hand and squeezed it, then grabbed the menu in front of her and quickly glanced at it.

"What shall we eat?" She raised her bright brown eyes and looked at Gigi.

Gigi was laughing, it was like that when she was with Jan, Jan could make her laugh at any moment and had no idea how she was doing it. "Welcome Jan." Gigi said, continuing to laugh, Jan blinked her lashes, "Thanks, Gigi." she joined the girl across from her and laughed, "It's so good to see you."

Gigi shook her head, "It’s so good to see you too, definitely." She pulled herself together and took the menu and looked through it. "I think I'll have a salad."

***

Crystal entered the kitchen with heavy bags in her hand, carrying from the market to the house. She lifted the bags and laid them on the kitchen counter and took a deep breath. She tried to reduce the pain she felt by rubbing her fingers. She urgently needed a car, didn't know how to get it, but somehow she had to get it. She washed her hands in the kitchen sink, splashed some water on her face, and drank two large glasses of water. She was humming a song as she put the contents of the bags in the kitchen cabinets, in the refrigerator.

She did not realize that she was muttering until she heard the whistling sound that accompanied the song she was muttering. She leaped and turned to the whistle, Brad was leaning against the kitchen door, watching her. "You scared me." Crystal said, still not used to seeing her boyfriend in areas other than the bedroom of this house.

“I didn't think you would be afraid,” said the young man, as he entered the kitchen, passed by Crystal and took the glass which she had just drank water from, pouring orange juice into it . "where have you been?"

Crystal closed the refrigerator door, gathered up the empty bags and put them in the kitchen drawer. She leaned her hip against the kitchen counter, "I went to the grocery store for kitchen shopping." she said, looking into her boyfriend's eyes, "Where were you?" she asked with a smile, pleasing the man's dissatisfied look, “Let me guess, bedroom?” She left the kitchen, shaking her head.

Brad followed her, "Do I have a better job to do, Crystal?" he called after her. Crystal went to the living room where there was her canvas and paint materials, "Why should I pretend to have something when I have nothing to do?"

Crystal took her paint materials from the small table next to her canvas and began placing it on the palette. "There's a lot of work you can do, Brad," she said in her calm voice, "you just don't want it."

“Yes,” Brad said, unable to hide his boredom in his voice, “do you think it's too bad that I wait for a job I want?”

Crystal laughed, "No, Brad, it's not a bad thing, but you're not waiting for a job you want," she lifted her eyes from her palette and stared at the brunette man, "you're waiting for a job that will never exist."

The young man held up both hands, showing his surrender, "I can't believe you." he said with a shocked look on his face, "I don't even know you, Crystal."

It was her turn to be surprised, "You don't know me?" She dropped the palette in her hands sharply on the table, turned to Brad, "It's been months, Brad!" She could no longer control her voice, "I've been living with a stranger for months, and now that stranger is talking about not knowing me." she was screaming now.

"You've changed since we got here Cryssie, you're always out, you say you live with a stranger, but I'm officially living alone."

"Then come with me." Crystal said with her last hope, “Come to me if you don't want to be alone, Brad,” she hadn't noticed her eyes were full, tears were already running down her cheeks, “Let's be Crystal and Brad as before, not just Crystal and the stranger Brad.” She wished the man in front of her to hear the cry for help, wished he would wake up and come back to her. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, looking into Brad's eyes, realizing that her wishes had not been heard.

"I can not do it."

As the man turned, Crystal managed to hold back her sobs, watched the man return to his bedroom, her heart was so heavy that it was hard to cry anymore. She forcefully moved her legs and took the bag she had left in the kitchen and left the house.

***

Gigi had a sore cheeks from laughter as they reached the end of their dinner with Jan. Jan was again talking about one of the most ridiculous events that happened in her last theater rehearsal, and Gigi was definitely having a lot of fun. Jan was one of the most interesting people she met here, when she first met she was sure Jan was a real blonde but she was just Jan. She had a different character that could not be compared to any blonde, and Gigi loved spending time with her.

"The girl is literally obsessed with me, I wore an orange tulle jacket the other day, guess what she was wearing today."

Gigi thought for a moment, there was a sneaky little woman living in Jan's innocent beauty and Gigi loved this side of the girl. "Is it a tulle jacket?"

"Worse!" replied the blonde girl, "A tulle trousers!"

Though Gigi never reacted as big as Jan, she showed that she agreed with her on this. At that time, the waiter brought the bill, Gigi handed enough cash and winked at the blond girl in response to her fatal gaze. "Next time you pay."

“If not, you won't see my face again Ms. Goode. ” Jan said.

Gigi took the girl's arm and giggled as she left the restaurant. They started walking together on the cool breeze Los Angeles night. Jan's height was reaching Gigi's shoulders, although Gigi was younger than her, it was always Jan who was more childish.

"You should have walked here on the arm of the woman you love, not on my arm, you know, right?" Jan asked, not looking at the face of the girl with whom she was walking. She acted as if she was talking about a topic they talked about every day.

Gigi acted like that, "I just love you." said.

Jan rolled her eyes but Gigi didn't see it. "You know what I'm talking about, Geege, you're young, you're successful, you're beautiful, I don't understand why you don't take someone into your life."

"Why are you single?" Gigi asked, her voice was cold.

Jan stopped, got off the girl's arm and looked at her face, “You and I are not the same Genevieve, at least I'm trying. I'm meeting new people, I don't wear a mask on my face to avoid getting them into my life like you do. ” She suddenly covered her mouth with her hands, noticing that she was moving too forward. "Sorry Geege, I didn't mean that."

Gigi shrugged, "I know what I'm doing Jan, it doesn't hurt to say it to my face." She took her friend's arm again and they continued walking, "I'm happy that way." she said with a smile. “I don't need anyone else. My own happiness is enough for me, I cannot deal with someone else's troubles, problems, and all the burden that they have carried on their back. ” She was thinking of opening a topic about Jan to cheer up her friend, but she forgot what she had in mind when she noticed the girl walking across from them.

She didn't need to see her face to recognize the walking girl with brisk steps, head lowered in front of her. She could only know who she was from the scarlet color of her hair that resembled autumn leaves, or the long large necklaces she had over the long shabby dress she wore. Gigi wished the girl to look up at her as she passed by, but instead of lifting her head, she wiped her face with the back of one hand and walked past.

"Crystal?" Gigi couldn't help herself. She had let go of Jan's arm, she called after the girl walked away.

The girl stopped suddenly and turned to her, her red eyes from crying and the pink at the tip of her nose caught Gigi's attention. "Gigi?" came out of her trembling lips.

As Gigi approached her, she immediately turned around and covered her face with her hands. Gigi realized that she wanted to hide her crying, but it was too late now. Not sure what to do, she put her hand on the girl's back and showed that she was there. Not wanting the girl to run away, Gigi turned to her friend with whom she had dinner, without taking her hand off her back. "Jan, I'm sorry, but you'll have to go home alone." said.

Jan took a few steps closer, "Don't worry about me, is there anything I can do?" she asked with all her good will. Gigi peered over the girl who continued to hide her face, "I don't think so, thanks anyway." she said to Jan and sent a kiss.

"Okay then, good night." Jan said, leaving her friend in the street with a crying girl she didn't know. She continued to walk towards the subway station. In her mind, the red-haired girl next to her friend, and the anxiety and affection that the ice queen Gigi had on her face as she looked at the Redhead. She looked at the stars, perhaps what she wished for her friend had already been accepted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Share your comments with me, i'm always here to talk about crygi ;)


	5. The Superior Duo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is for my superior duo, minnie and mal, thank you for being with me all the time and answering all of my quick questions and reacting super cute to the sneak peeks i sent to you. i can't love you more guys :)  
> the song for this chapter is; little mix - touch (acoustic)

Gigi had the crying girl sit on a nearby bench, and she sat next to her. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know Crystal that well, but she wasn't stranger enough to leave her alone. Whether Gigi wanted it or not, the girl was sneaking into her life day by day. Even though she had a day that she didn't see her, she certainly witnessed her being mentioned. Either Jaida was talking about working with her, or Jackie was calling the other girl while she was with Gigi, even Nicky asked her about Crystal the other day.

She thought about what any of her friends would do if she was in Crystal's situation right now. It would be best to do so. She put her hand from her back towards her shoulder and squeezed it slightly. She wanted to show that she was with her. Gigi took a deep breath as Crystal leaned against her and put her head on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk?"

Crystal's shoulders continued to shake, "Don't feel like we have to talk, we can sit quietly." Gigi added quickly. The more she cried on her shoulder, the more she wanted to be able to help her. It bothered her that the girl cried like this, who is the most smiling person she had ever seen. The girl's coconut-smelling hair was just below her chin, causing her to force herself to think rationally.

Crystal sniffed and looked up, "Do you have a napkin?" she asked in a low voice.

Gigi nodded and pulled her arm from her shoulder, shuffled her purse, took out a pack of napkins and handed it to girl. Crystal took one from the pack and wiped her nose, Gigi heard the girl giggle. "Right now I can't believe I wiped my nose after I weeped snot in front of you." the giggling girl said.

"What's wrong with that?" Gigi asked involuntarily.

Crystal looked at the black-haired girl's face, "I don't think anyone sniffs in front of the perfect model Gigi Goode." She laughed and continued, "You don't have to be here, I can pity myself alone."

"I'm not here to pity you." Gigi said in her sharpest voice. "I'm just here to be with you, which you're not in a miserable situation." she added.

Crystal bowed her head, “I am. I cried halfway through the days we were together. I think it's a pretty pathetic score. " she said with a painful smile.

"If you're going to keep making imputations that you don't deserve, I don't think you need me." Gigi said as she stood up, faced the girl and raised her head to grab her chin with her hand and look at her face. "You know what I thought while watching your photo shoot on set?"

Crystal fluttered her lashes, looking forward to hearing what would come out of the black-haired girl’s plump lips. "I thought how much you have self-confidence, that there is not a job that you can't do with that self-confidence." Gigi pulled her hand from Crystal’s chin and put it on her waist, “I wish I could be as confident as you when I first started this job.”

"You say these things to make me feel good."

"I don't do anything I wouldn't do or say anything I would just say to make anyone feel good, Crystal." Hearing her own name in the tall girl's voice excited Crystal. She looked carefully into the blue eyes, and even though she knew inwardly that the girl was saying what she believed, she made sure of it with the honesty she saw in those eyes.

"Thank you." Crystal said when she managed to put a smile on her face. She no longer wanted to remember what happened in the house. Thoughts about herself of the woman who she was fascinated by her beauty were enough to make her happy from this moment on.

Gigi smiled at the girl too, and it was hard to believe that she didn't realize how charming Crystal was. She had the physique and energy to turn everyone’s eyes on, in every environment she entered, and even when she started talking, you had no choice but to admire her. She had learned this from experience, no matter how far she tried to keep the girl away from herself, she was also added to the list of Crystal admirers.

"Do you want to eat ice cream?" Gigi asked, as the smile on the Redhead's face widened and her hazel eyes sparkled, she smiled too. What or who could manage to make a person so easy to please cry like that? Recently, this has been one of the questions she most wanted to know it’s answer.

***

Crystal spun around on her fingertips at the ice cream shop where she came, following the black-haired girl. The interior was decorated just like it was from the '80s, with small booths for customers, not the usual tables, it felt like an old-time movie. Freshly made waffle scents, colorfully prepared milkshakes, various ice creams appealed to all senses.

When her eyes found Gigi again, she saw the girl striding towards a two-person cabin. Crystal quickly followed her and sat in front of the girl. It looked like Gigi had jumped out of a magazine cover again tonight. She wore a short white dress with long sleeves and a deep v-neck. Unlike Crystal, she wore no necklaces and her neck looked smooth. Her red lips brought all sorts of things to Crystal’s mind.

"I can see that you like this place from the expression on your face?" Gigi said as she put on a confident smile.

Crystal blinked her lashes, "Yes, I absolutely love it here, it looks great." she said, managing to stutter. She had to keep to herself the fact that it was the girl who looked great.

"This is one of my favorite places in LA, I think I have a different interest in the 80s." Gigi chuckled at her own words and called one of the waiters with a graceful gesture to order. She noticed that Crystal was looking at the menu in front of her with enlarged eyes, "I always eat cookie dough flavored ice cream, even though this place has a lot of options." she said to help the girl.

"That one's my favorite too!" Crystal said in a too cheerful voice, Gigi found herself looking back into her eyes, just smiling. "But," Crystal said after turning her eyes over the menu, "I think I'll try something different." She left the menu in front of her, put her hands on the table, just before the waiter got to their tables, she said, "I've got tired of the same things for years now, I'll try different flavors." she said with a determined expression on her face.

With the waiter asking what they wanted to eat, Gigi was distracted and quickly ordered ice cream, then listened to Crystal's order, which included almost half the menu. There was no way the girl could eat everything she said, but the confident and excited expression on her face prevented Gigi from saying anything. Still, her words just before the waiter arrived continued to reverberate in the back of Gigi's mind.

***

They never stopped talking while they were eating their ice cream. Crystal spoke about the city where she was born and raised, her friends there, her school and work. She even told Gigi how she met Jackie at school.

"During my high school years, I was a kid who had a tendency to do everything my parents told me not to do. I decided to become an artist the day they told me to study science, that I can't make money with art.” Crystal chuckled, as if remembering those days, "I guess you understand what a rebellious teenager I was.”

Gigi nodded and grabbed another spoonful of her ice cream. The redhead girl continued to tell her story, "We were in the sophomore year of high school, my father was aware of many things in the city because he worked at a popular restaurant. When he came home one evening, he asked me if I knew about the newly opened LGBT club at school, and I told him that I knew it. He glared and told me to stay away from that club and the people there. "

Gigi cramped up, not enjoying the course of the story, but Crystal still looked cheerful. So she decided not to interrupt the girl. "The next day, of course, my first job was to go to that club and sign up, and the head of the club was Jackie. Believe me, there is no difference between Jackie 10 years younger and today's Jackie. She immediately took me to the club, invited me to events, invited me to parties. I was not hiding that I was entering the club from anyone, even wearing LGBT badges on my bag and clothes. "

Crystal hesitated, noticing the expression on the black-haired girl's face. “Are you okay?” she asked anxiously.

"Did you enter the club as an ally?" Gigi asked.

Crystal laughed again, "Are you interested in my sexual orientation, Gigi?" she jokingly asked, interrupting the other girl from trying to answer hastily, "I haven't put a label on myself, but I don't care about the gender or sexual orientation of the person I want to be with, which I think makes me pansexual." when her words were finished she shrugged.

She could see Gigi relaxed, "Now can I tell you about our first pride march adventure with Jackie?" she asked, widening her eyes. Gigi nodded with a laugh and listened to the other girl's talk until she finished her ice cream.

Gigi smiled and thanked the waitress, who took her empty plate. As the waitress left their table, she looked at the girl sitting opposite Gigi and laughed sincerely. Gigi also repeated what the waitress did. There were 3 separate plates in front of Crystal, each plate had 3 different ice creams and the girl was trying to eat them all at once. In doing so, she didn't hesitate to look incredibly cute to Gigi's eyes.

"Are you sure you can finish them all?" Gigi asked, unable to contain herself.

Crystal nodded as she swallowed another spoonful of ice cream. She looked up at Gigi and gave her a big smile. "After tonight I shouldn’t eat until the next photo shoot, but yes," she looked at the colorful ice creams in front of her, "I'll finish it all." said.

Gigi chuckled, "There's nothing you can't handle with a few workouts." she said, then remembered how close they were to shoot together, they were going to do next photo shoot the next day. "Are you ready for a new shoot?"

Crystal cleared her lips with the help of a napkin, "I hope I am," she started rhythm on the table with her fingers, "so I got into this job really suddenly, I know that I need training, but now I can't afford that training and I have to take every chance I get," she glanced away, "To earn money."

Gigi nodded understanding, "Yes, of course." she said, suddenly realizing she wanted the girl to feel good and laugh again. She regretted bringing this topic up. "It was obvious that you were an amateur on set that day, but you weren't bad at all."

When Crystal brought her hazel eyes back to her blue eyes, Gigi continued to speak, "As I said earlier, if I were you, I would probably be stiff like a statue where I am." When she saw the smile on Crystal’s face, she laughed too. "You didn't even hide your excitement, your tension, and you were able to continue working with it." Gigi shrugged, "I think this is the right thing everyone should do."

"Thank you, Gigi." Crystal reached out over the table, grabbed the pale girl's hand and squeezed it, "I want you to know that it is very important for me to hear this from you." she said, Gigi fixed her blue eyes on the hand held by the girl.

Gigi blinked her lashes and looked back at Crystal, half a smile covered her face, "I think you're making me big in your head." she said, pulled her hand from the girl's warm palm and clasped her hands on her lap. She could still feel the warmth of the girl's palm on her skin.

"Actually, you are right." Crystal said, with a playful look on her face. "Especially tonight I realized that you are not that perfect."

Gigi's eyes widened, "What's that supposed to mean?" Her voice was louder than she wanted, but the girl opposite just giggled.

"Shall we go?" That was all Crystal said as she took out enough cash from her purse to cover what they both ate, set it on the table and stood up. She looked over her shoulder and winked at Gigi before walking away.

As Gigi got up from her seat and started following the redhead girl, it was obvious that she was confused. They walked out of the shop and met in the cool Los Angeles breeze, Crystal seemed to be waiting for the other girl under a street lamp on the sidewalk.

Gigi strided closer to the girl, "I hope you didn't think I would let go of what you said inside?" She raised one eyebrow and looked down at the freckled face of the shorter girl.

The girl wrinkled her eyes and smiled, "Oh, Gee, why are you so serious?" she said in her murmuring voice.

Gigi felt her stomach cramped as she heard the name the girl had given her. She couldn't exactly call it’s a cramp, or did the butterflies that people always talk about made someone feel like this?

Crystal continued to look into the ice blue eyes of the girl who looked at her with a confused expression, said, “Thank you for making my night so much better,” and rose on her fingertips, did whatever she felt that she needed to do, before her rational side telling her to stop. She pressed her lips to the taller girl's cheek, the girl made her forget everything else that was going on in her life. She left a little kiss on Gigi’s cheek, before she stepped back, "good night Gee." whispered.

While Gigi was sure that the being stiff like a statue thing she had mentioned to the redhead girl, while they were just inside, had happened. Before she could open her mouth and say anything, Crystal turned and walked away with her own, dancing-looking gait.

When she was finally able to move, she looked up at the sky, there was not a cloud in the air, and the darkness of the night seemed to almost suck Gigi in. She took a deep breath, shook her head, straightened her posture, and started walking towards her own house, in the opposite direction to which the redhead girl had just gone.

This Redhead, constantly laughing and crying often, dressed colorfully, suddenly going into her life and not looking like she was going out anytime soon, was doing something to her, Gigi didn't know what it was, but she was sure she would figure it out. As she walked, she noticed she was smiling.

***

"Where are you going?"

Crystal stood at the bedroom door, turned back on her heels and faced the man in bed. Brad lifted his head off the pillow, staring at her with eyes swelling from too much sleep. Crystal was wearing purple leggings and a light blue oversized T-shirt, stuffed her stuff into her tote bag.

"Good morning to you too Brad, I'm fine, thank you for asking, how are you?" she said in her fake cheery voice.

This attitude made Brad roll his eyes and get out of bed. "When I realized that you are going somewhere, I wanted to ask Cryssie."

"I'm going to work, someone has to make money after all." Crystal didn't want to waste any more time, turning around again and leaving the room.

She entered the living room to take her keys, and when she scanned the room her eyes, she could not see them. She approached the table where she had put her paint supplies, picked up the items one by one and started looking for her keys. Meanwhile, her boyfriend also came to the room.

"Nothing will become better just because you’re complaining about them, you know that, right?"

Crystal took a breath dismally, was in a hurry, could not find her keys, and her almost mummy boyfriend had chosen this moment to speak to. "If there is someone who has the power to change the situation that I'm complaining about," she turned and looked at the brunet, "then I keep talking and complaining."

Brad looked over her shoulder at what she was doing, "What are you doing there?" he asked, as if he had forgotten what they were talking about before.

"I can't find my keys," Crystal started checking the seats after making sure they were not on the table, "could you see them somewhere?"

Brad started searching the living room with her, “I don't think I saw them.” He said, and leaned over and checked under the seats, thinking it might have fallen under the seats. "It's clean here." He called. He stood up again, "Are you sure they’re not in the bedroom?" he asked, going to the room he had mentioned.

Crystal wasn't sure, so she followed Brad, the boy checking the floor to the right of the bed. The girl looked to the left side of the bed, she didn't think her key could come out of there, but she couldn't be sure of herself either. When she returned home last night, she felt drunk even though she hadn't drunk any alcohol, and had gone straight to bed without changing her clothes.

She lay down on the floor, leaning her head on the floor to see under the bed, noticing her keys from the tiny reflections hitting the metal. "Here!" she shouted happily. She stretched her hand under the bed, but her arm did not go as far as she could reach the keys, she had to pull it to herself with something thinner.

“Wait.” Brad said, seeming to understand the situation and ran to the bathroom. Crystal was still trying to reach out, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. She realized that her boyfriend was coming back from his footsteps. "Get up, I'll get it." he said.

Crystal didn't even dare to get up, "I'll get it, you just give me something like a stick." she said, keeping her eyes on her keys. She had probably thrown herself on the bed the previous night without leaving her keys, and had not realized that her keys had fallen under the bed. It was her own fault, she could handle it herself.

"Cryssie, can you please get up?" Brad insisted.

Crystal turned her head and looked at the young man, imagined what she looked like now, and laughed. She was lying face down on the floor, one arm under the bed, the other arm under her head, and now she was looking at Brad. When their eyes met, the boy started laughing too. Hearing the boy's laughter came back with familiar feelings for Crystal. She was hearing this voice every day in her recent past and would be happy.

Her smile faded on her face, because she realized that she no longer felt anything but merely reminders of old times. She pulled her arm from under the bed, got up, straightened her clothes. Brad took her seat once she got up, reached the broomstick he brought from the bathroom and pulled the keys out.

Brad took the keys in his hand, he stood up in front of Crystal, approached the girl and dropped the keys in her palm, "That's it." he said and smiled.

Crystal peered intently into the brown eyes, let the man wrap his fingers around her wrist, waited to feel something. She felt nothing but a familiar touch. She closed her fingers around her keys and clenched them in her palm. She didn't know if she wanted to feel something, didn't want to think about it. “Thank you,” she said, almost saying she used to always call him, “Boo”.

She sent the memories back where they should be. "I have to go now." she hurried, and hurriedly left the house, leaving her boyfriend in the bedroom.

***

Crystal and Gigi communicated much better in their second photo shoot together. One of the biggest reasons for this was that they started seeing each other as friends. The fact that the two girls know each other better now was reflected in both their own performances and the performance of the whole set team.

Almost the whole crew was the same, as they were working with the same brand they worked with in the first photo shoot. Jackie was with them all day, too, and had noticed the new energy between Gigi and Crystal.

While Crystal was posing for the single photos, Jackie went to Gigi, who was on the makeup chair. "Did something happen that I missed?" she asked.

The model girl closed her eyes, enjoying the soft brush strokes touching her face. "Like what?" she replied with a question.

"For example," Jackie said, "have you been hit by a car or something? Or Crystal was blessed by the great lesbian goddesses and I’m not aware?"

Gigi chuckled, "If the lesbian goddesses were to bless someone, I guess it would be me, and you would definitely be aware." she said with pleasure. She understood what her friend was implying, but it was more fun to pretend not to understand.

"Baby Geege, if something happened, this is a great time to tell me right now, you know that if I find out later, you won't be able to escape from me." Jackie raised her eyebrows, but Gigi still hadn't opened her eyes. So it wasn't hard to realize that no matter how threatening it might seem, it didn't work.

Jackie didn’t believe anything that she did not know might have happened between Gigi and Crystal. Because if something like this had happened, she was sure Crystal would come to her first and tell her about it. After all, she was the only one here who knew everything that was going on in Crystal’s life. Still, she wanted to know the reason for the change at Gigi against Crystal.

"I thought you wanted me to be friends with Crystal." Gigi said.

"Yes, of course I want that, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. After all, I know you."

Gigi opened her eyes and sat straight, "I'm not such a bad bitch, Jackie, you obviously care a lot about this girl, so I wanted to give it a shot, I'm not a monster who always wants to bite the people who it works with and spends time outside of work." she spoke breathlessly.

"I didn't mean it that way." Jackie said backwards, looking into Gigi's eyes, "You know I would never mean something like that, Geege, just wondering."

"Yes," said Gigi, and again leaned her head on the make-up chair and closed her eyes, "I've decided to be friends with Crystal, if you don't mind."

"Of course not." Jackie said, and she decided to leave the black-haired girl alone.

While the two girls were posing together, there was a certain set of moves they had to do this time around. They were given poses inspired by the sports activities that the couples could do together. The majority of them were inspired by yoga postures, and they both had a lot of fun doing each. Crystal couldn't resist laughing, and obviously the Redhead's laughter was contagious because Gigi was also caught laughing on camera rather than the cold facial expression that was her style.

After their determined poses, the photographer allowed them to be themselves for a few minutes. Henry was a photographer famous for doing this, and he believed that the most beautiful photographs came out when models reflected themselves. Crystal held out a hand to Gigi, the black-haired girl clasped her fingers to the other girl's finders, they stood side by side, feet shoulder-width apart, and looked at the camera. Crystal made a cold expression in imitation of Gigi, but only a few seconds remained on her face, she was giggling and laughing again as Henry pressed the shutter all the time. Gigi looked at the girl next to her, couldn't help but laugh. Crystal was staring at her now too, looking into each other's eyes and laughing as Crystal spoke.

"Our hands must look so funny."

Gigi raised her eyebrows as if to ask why. Crystal continued, "Look, my hand is disappearing into yours." she chuckled.

Gigi also laughed and was about to make a sarcastic comment, "But I love your fingers, they're tall, thin and beautiful. Slender fingers, I say." Crystal said.

Gigi was speechless again. She couldn't take her eyes off of Crystal until Henry announced that they were done and thanked the girls. This scarlet-haired girl was doing something to her and Gigi had no idea what that was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can always find me @methyds on twitter, see you next time xoxo  
> -Ness.


	6. Everybody ships Crygi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the further we go, the more crygi scenes we get ;)  
> the songs for this chapter are;   
> Reo Speedwagen - Can't Fight This Feeling  
> AnnenMayKantereit x Parcels - Can't Get You out of My Head  
> love y'all, can't wait for your comments about this chapter :):))  
> -Ness.

Crystal shut down the map application on her phone and entered the cafe she managed to find with the application's help. Jaida had sent the location of the cafe, and it was her who gathered everyone today. Crystal felt grateful for the new friends she had made here. Especially after Jackie, having more friends that she wouldn't hesitate to be herself made this new city feel even more like home.

She had learned that the girls were sitting at a table in the garden, with a message from Jackie, so she moved through the tables to the wide glass door that led directly into the garden. When she got out into the garden, she noticed familiar faces on the widest table in the middle. Jaida, Jackie, and Nicky were listening to Gigi speaking at the time, and none of them noticed that Crystal was coming. As Crystal approached and sat on one of the empty chairs, she noticed the magazines on the table. There were so many magazines that she could not count how many were stacked on the glass table, and they were all the same.

"The fact that she's acting naturally will help her, if you insist on saying that, you will just stress her out more." Gigi said before realizing that Crystal was right next to her.

"Welcome, Crystal!" Jaida said enthusiastically. 

Crystal didn't mind her voice being louder than normal, "Hi!" she replied and sat down on the chair next to Gigi. "What are these magazines like?" she asked.

With a knowing smile, Jackie handed one of the magazines to the girl, "Sift through the pages and see what's inside." she said, blinking.

Crystal took the magazine curiously and began browsing its pages. It was half past that she understood what Jackie was talking about. This was the first edition of the work she did with Gigi. Her eyes sparkled with happiness when she saw the photos of herself in a magazine. She studied all the pages with excitement, and her eyes were tearing when she finally looked up at the other girls at the table.

Jaida reached over the table and took Crystal's hand, "Hey, you have nothing to cry about." she said, bending her lips.

Crystal smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, "This is how I am, I cry whenever I feel too much of any emotion." Her confession made the other girls laugh too. 

"The photos look great, Crystal, I'm proud of you." Jackie said, the pride she felt was reading through her eyes. "Thank you." Crystal replied.

She turned to Gigi, who looks so much better than her in photos, "I know that I look good in these photos only because of you." she said sincerely.

Gigi shrugged, "I can't make anyone look better or worse than they are, Crystal, you shined there only thanks to yourself." She put a reassuring smile on her face.

Crystal glanced back at the magazine, hoping she didn't blush too much, but her attention was divided by a group of girls approaching their table. 

She only knew Brita, who said "I can't believe we came last!"

There were two other women besides the woman, she had not seen before. One was blonde and petite, looking breathtaking in a short sporty dress, the other woman was black like Jaida and had a slender figure, with an incredibly sympathetic expression on her face, "We wouldn't have arrived this late, if you didn't drive that slow, Brita." she said as she dropped herself into a chair.

"At least you came." Nicky said, and handed one of the magazines to the newly arrived girls. "Our reason to celebrate is obvious." She added.

All three of the women eagerly browsed through the magazines and found pictures of Gigi and Crystal. A high-pitched scream was heard from the blonde one. Crystal jumped unintentionally. Gigi noticed the girl next to her jumping, she leaned over her shoulder towards the girl, “This is Jan, you'll get used to her screams soon.” she whispered.

Crystal hadn't noticed that she was getting goosebumps, so maybe the girl next to her wouldn't notice either. Slowly she shook her head in a positive way, but Gigi did not back off and kept whispering in her ear where she was, “You already know Brita, and the other one is Heidi. I can say that she is a very unique friend of ours. " she said, before she chuckled.

Crystal shook her head again and Gigi backed away. Crystal could not be sure whether the closeness in which she could feel her breath was better or her absence. She managed to fix her eyes on the women viewing the photographs, knowing that she had to focus her attention again.

"These photos are great girls!" Brita said in her usual cheerful voice. "I loved each of them, but those are my favorites, which you two are together." She turned a page from the magazine so they could see it, "This one in particular." she said, pointing to the photo of Gigi hugging Crystal's waist and Crystal touching Gigi's chin. "Who could have guessed that you two would fit each other this good?"

Jackie raised her hand, "Me?" she said sarcastically, "The fact is that I put them together, so there is something I know, right?"

Nicky put her coffee on the table, "You set up Crystal because I withdrew from the project, Jackie, don't pretend you organized Gigi and Crystal to work together right from the beginning." said.

As Jackie was just going to reply, Heidi spoke, "I don't like the growing number of models in our group," now staring at Crystal, "But I already like you." she said, showing her teeth as bright as her personality.

“Although we weren't officially introduced, I am very pleased to see that you are not crying this time.” said Jan, reaching out to Crystal over the table, "I am Jan, just Jan." 

Crystal smiled as she shook her hand but was confused, "Have we met before?" she asked, hoping she wasn't rude.

Jan's eyes found Gigi, her eyebrows raised, and Crystal didn't miss it, thinking the answer was the girl next to her, and she turned to Gigi. Gigi was sending a threatening glance to Jan at the time, she suddenly changed her expression and smiled, "Jan was with me when we ran into each other the other night, you may not have paid attention." she said to Crystal.

Crystal tried to remember the evening they met, she had heard Gigi was talking to someone, but was not paying attention as she was struggling to get her face straight. "I'm so sorry, I didn't pay attention." she said to Jan.

Jan seemed understanding, "Yes, I can guess." Meanwhile, everyone else at the table was watching these three girls with full attention, and Crystal realized that now they would have to explain to everyone about the evening they were talking about.

"Which one of you would like to explain exactly what you are talking about?" Nicky asked, raising one of her thin eyebrows. "I think you can start talking, my dear roommate."

Gigi straightened her position on the chair, "Okay, okay," she said, raising her voice a little to appeal to everyone, "We had dinner with Jan a couple nights before, we saw Crystal after dinner," she looked at Crystal, disregarding the other eyes, and smiled, hoping that she gave her confidence. “Crystal wasn't feeling very well at the time, Jan knows Crystal from that time.” she said, ignoring the detail that Crystal was crying at the time. 

Crystal nodded in agreement with Gigi's words. When she looked at the other girls sitting at the table, she knew they wanted more detail. "Then Gigi took me to have some ice cream, that's it." She tried to convince them that this was really the story. Nobody insisted, even though they seemed to be unconvinced.

Crystal clasped her hands in her lap and tried to listen to the changing subject, trying not to show her nervousness. The girls talked a little more about the photos, then the topic turned into Jan's new theater performance. Crystal never wanted to retreat into her own shell in this group of which she was so grateful to be in, but she couldn't forget the expressions she had just seen on the other girls' faces. She didn't want to be the new strange girl. Until now, she had been welcomed as the weird one in every environment just because she lived her emotions at the peak. Here, the only person who knew and loved her with all her weirdness was Jackie. And she is now sitting on the other side of the table, telling Heidi a story about her last job.

She fixed her gaze on her hands and wanted to get out of the abstraction she was putting herself in as quickly as possible. She began to peel off the green nail polish she had worn two days ago, while the long thin pale fingers took her hand and stopped her. She looked up at Gigi, who was the owner of the pale hand, who was sitting next to her, she was so embarrassed that she was caught, she unintentionally bit her lower lip. But Gigi wasn't looking at her, her gaze was on the speaking Jaida, listening to the woman with a sincere expression on her face.

Crystal didn't know what to do, Gigi's fingers intertwined her fingers and clasped her hands. The pale girl's thumb caressed Crystal's bronze hand, which made her feel safe. Crystal had no idea how a single touch of Gigi had calmed her. She had just met the girl, they could be said to be just new friends, still didn't know much about her, but here she was, under the table, her hands clasped, and Crystal was able to smile again. Just like a few nights ago when she ran into her on the street.

***

"No, it didn't!" shouted Heidi and made the other customers in the cafe look at her.

Jaida rolled her eyes with her reaction, "Heidi, child, you were drunk, how can you remember exactly what happened?" she asked calmly.

Crystal giggled, although she did not understand exactly what they were talking about, Jaida was telling a story how Jan and Heidi got drunk and made a bet to get the same bartender at a bar they went to last year. After almost every sentence, Heidi protested, stopping Jaida and trying to tell the story the way she remembered it. Jan, on the other hand, acknowledged her actions, sipping her strawberry drink and pretending she wasn't there.

As the last person to join the group, Crystal was listening to every story told to her and having a lot of fun. She understood that the people she had previously feared of misjudging herself were no longer the type of people to do it. Thinking about this, she actually thought she was misjudging them. She no longer wanted to get lost in her own world and to index herself to false thoughts. Without realizing it, she squeezed the hand still holding her right hand.

Gigi must have noticed this because her blue eyes had found her face. Crystal smiled at her, wanting to explain that there was nothing wrong, and immediately turned her attention to Jaida so that nothing would be noticed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gigi still looking at her. She felt the girl slowly approach over her shoulder, her breath hit her neck first, then her words, "Is everything okay?"

Crystal nodded, "Yes, everything's fine, it's okay." she said in a whisper.

"What are you whispering there?" Brita's loud voice made both girls pull their hands quickly and move without anyone seeing it.

"Nothing." Gigi said briefly.

Heidi, laughing, leaned her arms on the table, and leaned forward to look at both of their faces. “Why would you blush then? Both of you? " She moved her eyebrows, it was obvious that she had fun with this situation.

"I'm always red." Crystal said in her trembling voice. She had never been able to lie.

Jackie must not have bought this lie either, raising an eyebrow, "We just wondered what you were talking about." said.

Gigi shrugged, "I asked her if she wanted another drink." she said monotonously. "When will you learn not to interfere with other people's business?"

"You pissed off the diva, now I'll have to deal with it all day!" Nicky said, breathing wearily. 

So the girls started messing around with Gigi. Crystal took a deep breath. She noticed that her phone lying on the desk was vibrating, when she picked up her phone and opened the notifications, she saw that a new message arrived. The message was from Brad.

Boo: Hey, you need to come home.  
-What happened, Brad?  
Boo: I can't explain, you should come right away.

Crystal tried not to worry, but if Brad called her like that, it was either there was an emergency or something pretty bad happened. She put her phone in her little bag and hurriedly got up from her chair. All eyes were on her. "Mmm, sorry girls, but I have to go home, now." she said, trying not to show her concern.

"What happened, Crystal?" Jackie asked, on behalf of all.

Crystal waved her hand, "My roommate called, I guess it's a household situation, please don't be sorry," she got behind her chair, waved to everyone, "see you again." Before walking away from the table, she tried not to look into the eyes of the black-haired girl, but she caught the confused expression on the girl’s face, trying to ignore the pain of her heart.

***

Crystal was soon home, rushed open the door and entered, swiftly stepping into the bedroom, but Brad was not there. She thought he might be in the bathroom, she entered the bathroom calling his name, but it was empty there too. 

Brad called louder, "I’m here Crystal." she heard him say, the voice was coming from the kitchen. 

When Crystal entered the kitchen, she first noticed the dining table, it was very elegantly furnished, with a tray of lasagna in the middle of the table, a bottle of wine and a serving for two. Her eyes found Brad, the man took off his sweatpants, he was dressed like old Brad, and he was smiling at Crystal like the old Brad.

"Brad?"

"Don't you like it?"

Crystal didn't know what was happening, what to do, how to react. "What's going on?" she decided to ask.

Brad gestured to the table, "I cooked, that's what happened." he said with a smile.

"Is that so?"

Brad approached his girlfriend, reached for her hand, but Crystal put her hands behind her back, trying to pretend she hadn't done this on purpose, “I know I'm not the best boyfriend lately, but I wanted to say I would try to be better now. I made you lasagna with red wine, your favorite duo. ” explained the young man.

Crystal didn't say that her favorite dish was chilaquiles that her mother made, or taco bell’s tacos, once she said she liked white wine more than red, she didn't repeat. She appreciated Brad's effort, but knew he would never change. It might have been the old Brad, but Crystal realized that the old Brad wasn't exactly who she wanted either.

She smiled, "Looks great." she said as she sat on the chair near her. She let Brad eagerly serve her, then the young man sat in his chair.

While eating, Brad often spoke, reminding Crystal of some fun memories they had together. Crystal didn't need to be reminded of this, though, because she had mourned nearly every day she spent with Brad before. The good old days were not upsetting her as before.

"Do you remember the night you met my family?" Brad asked, taking a sip of his wine, "You were so nervous you looked incredibly sweet." he added.

Crystal laughed. "Your mother didn't think I was that cute." Brad hadn't picked a very good memory to remind her.

The day Crystal met Brad's family might have been one of her most tense days. She was nervous enough that she would only meet her lover's family, when she arrived at Brad's parent's home, then she was still nervous with the treatment she faced. His mother had not dealt with Crystal for the first half hour, and his father had asked the strangest questions. 

When they sat down at the dinner table and started eating together, Brad's mother, Mrs. Anderson had asked Crystal a few questions about her education, and when she found out she was in art school, she had a scornful expression on her face and asked what she would do as a profession. When Crystal said she hadn't made a decision yet, the expression on her face emphasized her dissatisfaction. Although Crystal tried not to care about her facial expressions, she felt really sad because she was much younger at the time. She learned later that only her thoughts were important about her future. 

When she thought of that night now, remembering how hard she had tried to please Brad’s mother, she smiled. Young, inexperienced, she thought Brad was the love of her life, and she was struggling to be worthy of him. But if the person in your life is right for you, you should never have to change yourself, she thought. Brad must have perceived the reason for her smile as she liked the conversation.

"So do you remember the birthday surprise?" he asked eagerly again. Crystal never wanted to discourage this enthusiasm she saw in Brad. So he didn't tell him that he had been aware of the surprise party from the very beginning.

“Yes, I remember of course. Everyone was there. " she said in a cheerful tone.

She was really happy that day, even though she was aware of the surprise Brad had prepared, she felt very lucky to have him. He had invited all her friends to the party at home, he had prepared a very nice buffet, her favorite songs played all evening, she remembered that Jackie was also there, she had a lot of fun. She was also having fun with Brad. She could not completely throw away the 3 years they spent together, and would not be there for 3 years if she did not feel happy or peaceful.

Unfortunately, she had lost both peace and happiness in the house where she lived with Brad now. Maybe Brad had been her safe place, maybe it was a habit, maybe she was in the monotony of her life, but she realized that she could no longer be with him. She was just waiting right now for the right time, when Brad would respond to this news in the best way. She was afraid that he would bury himself completely in a pit from which he could not come out, he looked more alive lately, more cheerful, struggling to communicate with Crystal at least. So Crystal had decided to give it some more time, giving it a little more time for Brad to become the Brad she knew again. After that, she could explain to him the decision she had already made clear in her head.

Brad realized that Crystal hadn't eaten her food, her misted eyes watching the glass of wine. "I knew you missed home too." he said, grabbing his girlfriend's hand.

Crystal raised her head as if awakening from the dream, looked at the hand of the man holding her hand, and drew her own hand into her lap, "Excuse me?"

"Crystal I made a decision." Brad began to speak, put his elbows on the table and leaned toward Crystal, his eyes glowing. “We are not a couple who can live here, you see, you could not find a decent job, you started to spend more as you couldn't earn money. You go out almost every day, I realize how much you are spending. "

When Crystal opened her mouth to protest, Brad lifted his finger and motioned to her silence, “Look, we moved, we tried to do it, but you know it doesn't work. I think it's time to go back home. We may not go to our old apartment right away, but we can stay with my parents for a while, and you have certain customers there, and I am sure that you can sell those trinkets, and they will recruit me. "

Crystal couldn't decide which idea of Brad she was going to disagree with, because it was all nonsense to her. She first started with the problem that caused them to come here. "Brad, how can you be sure that a place that fired you will recruit you?"

"Because by now they realize that they cannot find anyone better than me." he said confidently, then smiled, “When shall we go? Say goodbye to your friends tomorrow if you want, we can go the next day I'm sure we can find tickets. "

The young woman took a deep breath, wanted to speak calmly, not wanting to fight again. But as Brad continued to speak, she lost her calm. “Did you decide on your own about something that affected my life, Brad?” she said, being careful to keep her voice low.

"I know it's the best for both of us, Cryssie."

Crystal stood up with a blast from her chair, "Don't call me Cryssie again," she looked into the man's eyes, "never!" She took the bag she left on the kitchen counter and left the kitchen.

Brad caught up to her in the hallway, grabbed her elbow, and stopped her, "What's going on, Crystal?" he asked, his brows furrowed.

“Let me tell you what's going on, Brad, I got your opinion to come here too, I didn't force you to come here, you made a plan for yourself without even asking what I think, you made decisions that would change my life, you set everything in your mind, then you let me know. What do you think is going on? "

Brad nodded, “I'm just trying to do the best for us both Cryssie-”

"Don't call me Cryssie!" Crystal shouted. She noticed later that she was yelling. She took a deep breath, "I don't want you to call me Cryssie anymore, Brad, I don't want you to decide for me, I don't want you to try to change my life without my knowledge, I'm so angry with you right now so please don't come over me anymore, let me go."

Brad grabbed Crystal's hands and kissed them, "Don't go, let's talk." he said quietly.

Crystal shook her head, "I've talked to you a lot, but you never listened." She pulled her hands from the man's lips, "I’m sorry, believe me, I'm so sorry, but I can't do this to myself anymore." she freed herself from the man's arms and left the house.

When she threw herself out into the street, the first thing she noticed was that it was very dark. She didn't want to spend the night at home. Whenever they argued, Crystal realized that she could not stay at home and was the one who left. She had admitted that Brad wouldn't be that person anymore. Although she did not want to do this, she was sure that if she stayed at home, there would be even more hurtful words. She didn't want to fight any more, she admitted that, no matter how much she talked, Brad was no longer listening to her.

She called Jackie after walking a few blocks. After ringing the phone for a while, her friend answered, “Hey! What are you doing?" she asked, when she heard the phone turn on.

"Hi, Crystal. I'm not quite available right now, dear, can I call you later? "

“Ah, of course. We talk later." Crystal ended the call and stood where she was.

Where would she go now? She hated having to return home, tired of living in the same house with someone she no longer felt comfortable with. She looked at the streetlight which was standing next to her, and she smiled with the wind blowing her hair. The evening wind and LA's streetlight reminded her of the black-haired girl. Under such a streetlight, the evening she kissed her cheek came to life before her eyes. The girl's skin was cold, but Crystal liked that coldness. She hadn't come across a single thing about the girl that she didn't like before.

That evening she had deliberately hinted that Gigi was not perfect either, she had predicted the girl would stick with it, and she was not mistaken. She saw in her eyes that behind her gigantic ego, there was a much more fragile girl. Especially when describing her high school memory, every detail on her face showed how tense she was. Crystal was sure that she could do whatever was necessary, using whatever she had to make Gigi feel safe.

When she found the black-haired model's name in the contact list, pressed the call button and brought it to her ear, it was too late to stop to call the girl. On the second ring the call was answered, "Crystal?"

***

After Crystal left the cafe, when Gigi turned her head to the other girls who were still sitting around the table, she saw them all staring at her. She rolled her eyes, "Come on, begin." she said, before sipping her cold coffee from the straw in her glass.

"I liked her, really." Jan said, blinking her lashes, Gigi wasn't surprised, it was pretty hard to find someone Jan wouldn't like.

"I like the thing between you two, whatever you’re calling it." said Heidi, her sincerity was obvious in her smile.

"There is nothing between us but business and a low-key friendship." Gigi said, pulling her lips from the straw.

Heidi shrugged, "I didn't know that such whispering into other’s ears, forgetting the world while looking into each other's eyes was now called business and a low-key friendship." said

Gigi was preparing to answer, Jaida interrupted, "I would appreciate it if you don't irritate and stress my model." she said aloud.

"Lately you act like you have no other job than me anyway." Gigi said in return.

"There is someone else I can talk to," Jaida said, turning her body to Gigi, "you haven't fully allowed me to speak before, but if we want Crystal to be successful in this job, she needs training, I know you will do the best in this."

As Jaida reopened the issue Gigi was uncomfortable with, Gigi put down her coffee glass on the table, slid to the edge of her chair and sat straighter, "You can open this topic as many times as you want, Jaida, I gave my answer and this is my final decision, it won't happen."

“I don't want to arrange anyone other than you Gigi, because you are one of the most suitable models that can give such training, and the chemistry between you and Crystal will facilitate this training. If Crystal tries to work with anyone other than you, I'm afraid she'll be screwed. "

Gigi shook her head, “Bullshit. Crystal is a photo-model, she is not going to walk the runway, she has her own charisma and style, have you seen someone else who dresses like her and looks as good as her? Honestly, I haven't seen it. Over the years I have seen a lot of girls in every part of this business, both those who are educated and not, their only goal was to find their own style or to get it accepted. Crystal doesn't need it, she has one of the most authentic styles I've seen, and it's obvious from every aspect that she's proud of it. Crystal has incredible self-confidence when she is herself, I saw it with my own eyes, and any photographer who sees this will think of nothing but happy to be able to work with her. ” When she was silent, she noticed that Jaida was smiling, and Jackie was looking at her with the same smile, and when she looked at the other girls, she saw similar expressions on their faces.

"Why are you looking like that?" she asked, bursting into her chair.

Brita burst out with a laugh, Nicky spoke between her teeth, "Someone has become a protective girlfriend." 

Heidi was screaming, “Gigi has a crush on Crystal!”

Jan added, “How lovely, our baby Geege is all grown up and has a crush now.”

Jackie moved her brows up and down, tried to hide her smile, "I think we need to pay twice as much attention to what we talk about Crystal while Gigi is around." said.

"You—" Gigi gave up, nodded, "I'm leaving, have fun everybody." She quickly got up from her chair, Nicky grabbed her wrist, "Don't be silly, Gigi, we're just kidding."

"I see," she said, looking at them all, "I have work to do." She added, "I'm not offended by any of you, don't worry." Then she left the cafe. She had to go home and do something to make her forget that she had just been breathlessly defending Crystal against her own friends at the table.

When her phone rang, she was lying on the sofa in front of the TV, watching the project runway. She thought that Nicky was the one who called her again, Nicky must be thinking that she can't stand her insisting that she go out with them, Gigi thought as she reached for her phone. When she saw the name appearing on the screen, she suddenly stood up and sat down. She pressed the answer button so quickly that she wasn't even sure she was sending this command to her brain.

“Crystal?”

"Hi, mmm, are you available?" She smiled at her timid voice, her tone telling her that there was nothing urgent.

"Yeah, are you okay?" she asked, still to be sure.

She heard Crystal laughing, "Actually I need a place to spend the night, I called Jackie first but-"

Gigi interrupted the girl, "I'm sending the location now, get in an Uber, I'm waiting." She hung up the call and sent a text message to the scarlet-haired girl with her home address.

While waiting for Crystal to arrive, she picked up the mess, thinking of putting something else on her when the door knocked. Passing in front of the mirror, she glanced at herself, tugged on her cream-colored mini-shorts, had no time to change the black tank top, and headed for the door. She opened the outside door by automat and straightened her hair with her hands until the redhead girl reached the floor where her apartment was. It was enough that she didn't look like she got out of bed. 

When Crystal got off the elevator, she opened the door to her apartment, the scarlet-haired girl's temples were red, Gigi noticed that this was happening when she was embarrassed, and she didn't stop the big smile that spread across her face. The girl at her door was wearing the dress she saw today in the cafe. A red patternless jumpsuit was wrapping her waist and the ties crossing her chest were tied around her neck, the fabric fitted perfectly her curvy body. A large blue bag hung on her arm, she remembered the girl had purple lipstick on her lips when she was in the cafe, but now her lips were her own color, like burnt pink.

"Welcome, come in." she said as she opened the door wide.

Crystal walked in, the door opened to the living room and the open kitchen, watching the girl run her eyes through the room, “It looks beautiful,” she said, turning her gaze to the host and Gigi shivered for a moment when she noticed her gaze with her words, “your flat.” Crystal added.

"Thanks, Nicky did most of the things. Honestly, I am not very interested in decoration." Gigi admitted, closing the door and stepping forward to guide Crystal to the side where they placed the couches. They had a sitting area in front of the large windows.

"Gigi," said Crystal, standing where she was, grasping her purse with her hands, "thank you for letting me stay here, I wouldn't want to come out of nowhere."

Gigi reached out and took her hand and pulled her to sit on the sofa, "Such things are not even thanked among friends." she said, she had decided not to dwell on it too much so that the girl would feel comfortable. "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"I’d like to drink coffee." Crystal said, dropping her bag beside the sofa and followed Gigi into the open kitchen. "I'll help too." she said after the girl.

Gigi looked over her shoulder at the girl, "I don't think I'll have too much trouble making two cups of coffee, but you know." she said with a chuckle.

Crystal agreed, "It's a better option to pretend I'm helping something here than waiting alone." she said, leaning her hips against the kitchen counter, watching Gigi.

The girl first gathered her hair on top of her and formed a bun with a rubber clip around her wrist. She pressed the kettle button and pulled out two short, wide cups from one of the cupboards as the water warmed. "Milk?" she asked as she cast one of the world's most ordinary, but according to Crystal, one of the most impressive glances.

Crystal nodded like a good girl, and she was worrying how she can spend time till morning in the same house with this girl. She tied her arms around her chest and tried not to watch the girl. Although she knew it was impossible, she could say she had achieved it for about 30 seconds. 30 seconds after staring on the floor, Gigi appeared in front of her, "If you can slide a little to the left, I can get the filters." said the girl.

Crystal rushed up and out of Gigi’s path, Gigi’s smile was still on her face, “Is there anything you want to do tonight?” she asked, after taking the coffee filter papers from the drawer under the counter.

Gigi was sure to see the redhead girl's freckled face blush, and she liked to make her blushed even more than usual. She placed the filter papers on the cups, "We can watch movies, I'm not much of a music lover, but if you want we can just listen to music, or we can tell our deepest secrets.” She winked at the girl, poured coffee on the papers, while slowly pouring the heated water over the coffee.

"Do you like musicals?"

***

Gigi finished with one last sip of her coffee, reached out and dropped her cup on the coffee table, leaning back and glancing at Crystal, still holding the coffee cup tightly beside her. The black-haired girl gathered her legs under her hips, her hair in a bun was a little messy. Crystal's scarlet curls were falling off her shoulders, causing Gigi to want to reach out and touch those curls. As if realizing that Gigi was watching her, Crystal turned her head to Gigi and gave a warm smile. Gigi smiled as if not caught watching her too, and turned her eyes back to the TV.

Crystal dropped her coffee cup next to Gigi's, pulled her knees to herself and wrapped her arms around them, one of her musical favorites, Les Misérables was on TV. She was crying every time she watched it, and she knew she needed to cry tonight too. Soon enough she felt the tears begin to slide down her cheeks.

"Hey," said Gigi, getting a little closer to the girl, "are you okay?"

Crystal laughed, "You can't worry like that every time I cry, Gee." she said, resting her head on Gigi’s shoulder.

"You can not both cry and make fun of me." Gigi timidly wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder.

As she was feeling closer to her, she relieved and then wrapped her arm tightly around the crying girl. The coconut-smelling curls were just under her chin, Gigi closed her eyes and felt the sensation with all her senses. She wanted to remember in full detail this moment, the moment when she held Crystal in her arms.

Crystal spoke with her head on her shoulder, “I am the easiest crying person in the world,” she hesitated and lifted her head from her shoulder, but not back, so Gigi did not take her arm away from her shoulder and leaned in her face to look into her eyes. "But I've never felt as safe as I am with you when I was crying before." Crystal finished her words.

Gigi felt her heartbeat accelerating in her throat, her hand on her shoulder lowered towards her back, neither of them backed out, the honey-colored gleams in Crystal's hazel eyes made things melt in Gigi's heart, which was as icy as her blue eyes. Gigi felt it in her bones. Crystal was thawing her, and Gigi was not afraid at all.

Gigi watched the hazel eyes run over her face, and when she could take her eyes from her eyes, she did the same, her gaze shifted from the freckles on Crystal’s nose to the pinkish temples to the spontaneously red lips. There was no longer an option for self-restraint, especially after realizing that the girl was approaching her too.

"You're always safe with me." she whispered to the redhead's lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't hate me bc of the ending pls <3


	7. Gigi falls hard for Crystal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi gays, i'm posting this chapter with the joy of having susy and crys back, this one is for you baddies, love you all <3  
> the songs for this chapter are;  
> one direction - more than this (yes, clowns)  
> little mix - think about us (acoustic)

Gigi thought she was going to connect her lips to Crystal's lips, and was stunned when the girl in her arms pulled herself back suddenly. Crystal quickly got up from her seat, "Where is the bathroom?" she asked, trying not to look at Gigi's face.

"Enter the hallway, the last door." Gigi pointed down the corridor. She tried not to show her astonishment, though she didn't think Crystal was seeing her either.

When the girl disappeared in the hallway, Gigi thought she was going fast, she must have scared Crystal, maybe she had misunderstood the signs. She had learned that Crystal was also interested in girls, but that didn't mean she would be interested in Gigi either. 

Gigi put her head between her hands, perhaps not wanting to think that the only chance she had was that and she scared her off. When did she really think she had a chance with Crystal? It took some time for her to even accept Crystal as her friend. The thought of breaking this friendship they had just made did not allow Gigi to sit in her place and she suddenly stood up. How could she get this back? She was afraid that she might have lost Crystal completely.

She was sure that she no longer had completely friendly feelings for Crystal. Changing the rhythm of her heart even when she thought of the redhead girl had a different meaning. Gigi felt like she was sinking into an endless swamp, she lifted her chin up and took a deep breath. She would do nothing to cross the friendship line between them until she was sure of Crystal's feelings. She shouldn't have. Even the thought of losing Crystal completely caused Gigi to freeze.

Crystal was pacing back and forth in the limited space in the bathroom, stopping from time to time, staring at herself in the mirror and continuing to walk. She passed her hands through her hair and approached the mirror. Her face was obviously blushing, almost the same color as her hair. She went through what had just happened in her head, would Gigi really kiss her if she hadn't run away? That would mean Crystal's dreams come true.

She had always ignored those feelings in order not to admit that there was something else hidden beneath the little friendship that developed with Gigi. She had swept them all under the friendship tag. Or she deceived herself. She was obviously dying to kiss the girl. But she could not do that. At least for that moment. Although she hadn't felt like that for months, she had a boyfriend. They were still not officially separated, because Crystal felt too weak to do so. Formerly.

"Now you have the strength to do whatever you want, you have a job, you have friends, you have a house, you are no longer bound to him." she whispered, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

She washed her hands in cold water and ran her hands around her neck, "It's time to run your own life." she said confidently. Then she came out of the bathroom.

Gigi was standing in the room and looking very worried. Crystal smiled at her. "Sorry, I had an urgency." she said, in her creaking voice like every time she lied.

"No, I'm sorry, Crys, I didn't know what I was doing, it really will never happen again, I'm very, very sorry." Gigi spoke quickly, waving her hands in the air, showing her sincerity with all her gestures.

Crystal was surprised that the girl regretted it so quickly, but was aware that while there was still someone in her life, she could not be the one who was offended. "It's okay, Gigi, it's really okay."

Gigi ran her blue eyes through her hazel eyes, trying to make sure she was sincere. "Where will I sleep?" Crystal wanted to leave this issue behind now.

"Nicky will come home tomorrow night, so I'll take her bed, and you can sleep in mine." Gigi pointed to the door of her room, the only black door in the house belonging to her room.

"I can also stay in Nicky's room, I don't want to take you out of bed." Crystal said as she grabbed the bag she had left next to the sofa. “Or I can sleep on the sofa.”

Gigi walked in front of her room, "Oh, no." she said, and turned to Crystal, "Believe me you don't want to stay in Nicky's room, I don't even know how you can breathe in that mess." 

Crystal also entered the black-door room after Gigi. The fact that Gigi had just left behind the incident had relieved her as well. She glanced around, the walls of the room were all black, but every piece of furniture inside was white. Her bed, linens, vanity table, wardrobe, lampshades, everything was white. Crystal studied every detail without haste, enchanted by the contrast.

"I think you like it?"

The redhead nodded, “I love it Gigi, I'm sure you're the only decorator mentioned here.” she looked at the black-haired girl and laughed.

"Yes, we can say I'm the responsible person here." She winked at the red-haired girl and dropped a pajama suit from her wardrobe on her bed, "You can wear these, I'll be in the opposite room if you need anything, you can disturb me whenever you want.” She chuckled and said, "Good night, sweet dreams” before leaving Crystal alone in the room.

"Thanks Gee, good night."

***

When Crystal woke up the next morning, she thought what happened before she went to bed was a dream. For a moment she almost thought it was a dream that Gigi was going to kiss her. That intimate moment with the young girl flushed Crystal again. She could tell from the heat of her face that she was blushing. She realized that she could not stay in the bed, which just smelt like Gigi. The smell of lavender on her nose and the moments in her mind did not prevent her from blushing. 

She got out of bed, put on her own clothes she took off last night, folded the pajama suit Gigi gave and put it on the bed she had collected. When she walked out of the girl's room and into the living room, Gigi was drinking coffee in the kitchen, and she was not alone.

Crystal smiled, "Good morning Gigi," she looked at her guest next to her, "and Jackie."

Jackie gave Crystal a warm hug, "Good morning my sunshine!" she almost screamed, "How was your night?"

Crystal took a cup of coffee that Gigi passed, "It was fine, I slept like a baby." She looked at Gigi and smiled, "Thank you again, Gigi."

Gigi shrugged, "I don't want to hear you thank me any more." she said, "Jackie couldn’t reach you on phone this morning, went to your house but no one opened the door, then she called Jaida, and Jaida called me, I said that you are staying here, and Jackie came here to make sure I didn't kidnap you." she summed up what happened while Crystal was asleep for her.

Jackie patted Gigi's back, "Thanks, baby Geege, for summarizing the things I actually experienced in the first place."

"If I left it to you, you would have dragged it out for hours, I couldn't let you do this to Crystal.” Gigi defended herself with a chuckle, not neglecting to winked at Crystal at the same time. Crystal was sure that the winking Gigi was making her heart sing.

"I got out of the house a little hurriedly, I forgot to take my charger with me, my battery is dead." Crystal explained her part of the story and gave Jackie a half hug, "Thank you for taking care of me this much, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Oh, shut up, now you have Gigi, I've already become a second person." Jackie distracted Crystal, who was getting emotional with a laugh. While the two were laughing, no one noticed that Gigi was almost suffocating while getting excited and trying to drink coffee from her cup.

Crystal noticed the clock on the wall and dropped her cup on the counter, "I have to go out immediately." and rushed to Gigi's bedroom, where she left her belongings. Within an hour, she had a second meeting with the school where she applied for a job. She would be late if she did not rush.

After making sure that she took all her belongings, she went back to the room where the others were, "I have a job interview, I have to leave immediately." she said while she was hugging her old friend. "After that I’ll go home, I will let you know when my phone is turned on." 

Then she wrapped her arms around Gigi's neck and hugged her in the same way, "Thank you Gigi again for everything." she said.

As Gigi pulled back, she almost thought she was hurt, because she didn’t want to let Crystal go. She farewelled Crystal, made sure the girl was gone before closing the door. She closed the door, and as she returned to Jackie's side, she was aware that she was in a terrible shit.

Jackie was walking into the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand, sitting on a single seat, smiling and watching Gigi sit on the seat opposite. Gigi sat down and looked at Jackie, "Yes?" she asked, wondering why Jackie was looking at her like that.

"You can't hide it from me Geege, you know right?" Jackie raised her eyebrows and took a sip from her cup. She gave Gigi time to speak.

Gigi didn't want her emotions to be so visible, but it was the first time she had such a confusion of emotions and she didn't know how to hide it. She was the youngest of the group of friends, the oldest was Jackie, and she has been a big sister to Gigi from the day they met. Gigi was grateful for that. 

She was sure she could share every problem with Jackie, especially since the two of them were the only lesbians of the group. The other girls wouldn't judge her, of course, but she knew that no matter what she told Jackie, she could fully understand her. She even made her first gay bar visit with Jackie when she moved here, remembering all those memories comforted Gigi and decided that the last person to hide her unique feelings for Crystal was Jackie.

Gigi took a deep breath, "I fucked up so bad." she said as she breathed. When she looked at Jackie, she saw that she was waiting for her to continue, "I almost kissed Crystal last night, but she stepped back and I realized what kind of shit I have done."

Jackie was almost dropping the cup in her hand, carefully dropped what's in her hand on the center table and studied Gigi's face before reacting. "I want you to tell me everything from the beginning, now!" she said.

Gigi rolled her eyes and described one by one what happened last night after Crystal arrived, trying not to miss any details. After telling what happened, Jackie's expression looked a little more worried. Gigi felt even worse. “Is it that bad? I mean, this morning wasn't looking that bad. "

"Oh Geege, you like her, don’t you?" Jackie asked, realizing that Gigi did not know what happened in Crystal's private life, and since Crystal did not share it with her, Jackie would not tell either, so she felt bad.

Gigi nodded to Jackie, "I'm afraid it's more than liking, Cox." she said in her trembling voice. Saying her feelings out loud made them even more real.

Jackie stood up and sat next to Gigi and wrapped her arms around the young girl. Gigi wanted to shrink and disappear between the arms that hug her. The last time she had unrequited feelings, she was in high school, and those feelings were against her art teacher. She did not remember being rejected by any woman afterwards, and she hadn't even chased after any woman, she didn't have to make an effort. She rested her head on Jackie's shoulder.

"You might think Crystal didn't have the same feelings towards you after what happened last night," Jackie said in a calm voice, and Gigi nodded that she thought just that, "but I wouldn't make such an inference right away."

Gigi looked up at the Persian woman's face, Jackie was looking at her with one of the warmest smiles, "What do you mean?" the young girl asked.

“I've known Crystal for a long time, Geege, and Crystal I know lives all her emotions at their peak, and sometimes there are times when these feelings are too much for her,” Jackie chuckled, “at times like this she usually chooses to escape, she keeps running until she decides what to do, but eventually makes her decision. ” She was not lying, Crystal was always inclined to be scared and run away. 

Jackie couldn't understand her thoughts about Gigi without talking to her yet, but she couldn't count how many times she had caught the evasive glances of that strange redhead to Gigi. She didn't believe Crystal was looking at Gigi that way, just as her friend. These glances meant something more, Jackie was sure.

Gigi's eyes shone, "So could she just panic?" she asked, trying not to reveal the hope that blossomed in her voice, but failed.

"Yes, maybe." Jackie nodded, rejoicing as the clouds of despair in Gigi's eyes dissipated, "As someone who sees what you are telling and the look and the communication between you, I don't think you misunderstood the signs, maybe it just wasn't the time yet." Jackie winked at the girl.

"The glances between us?" There were times when Gigi was watching Crystal, sometimes Crystal noticed her but Gigi didn't look away. If she wanted to hide something, she wouldn't do it at all, and if she was doing something, she wouldn't try to hide it. But the fact that this was noticed by others made her feel like her bedroom being visited by strangers. Sometimes she can communicate with Crystal only through their eyes, now she realized it was as special as her bedroom for her.

Jackie rolled her eyes, “Don't pretend you're trying to hide it now, what was that you said to Jaida yesterday? I didn't know that Crystal had a lawyer. " she said sarcastically.

Gigi came out of Jackie’s arms, her self-confidence regained, “I just said the things I was thinking about, it has nothing to do with my feelings.” she said.

Her gaze fell at the feet of the table, “I know I don't know Crystal as much as you do, but somewhere in me I feel like I have known her for a long time, I can see that she is going through a period when she is sensitive now, although I don't know what the normal Crystal is from the Crystal that I see now. I know that she is much more confident, much stronger." 

She turned her eyes to Jackie, "And I want to get to know that Crystal too, we just need time for it, I don't know how, but I know that."

Jackie smiled at the girl she saw as her younger sister, "I'm proud of you, Geege, and if I know Crystal, your feelings for her are not unrequited, just wait a little longer."

Gigi nodded, she could wait for that redhead, god knows, her list of things she wouldn't do for that redhead was pretty short.

***

Crystal returned home after the job interview. Her interview was quite good, they said they would let her know the result in a few days, hoping she had a better meeting than the other candidates now. So that she would have a regular job, she would also be able to do the work she was born to do. She hadn't painted things much lately, she was a little scared to see what she would paint on a canvas. Especially after the last events in her private life, she was aware that she could not paint cute monsters as before. She wasn't ready to see Gigi on that canvas again either.

When she got home, she was surprised to find Brad again outside their bedroom. The young man was studying the canvases lined up under the tall windows in the living room. These paintings were what Crystal has done since she came here.

"Hello." she called, dropped her bag on the seat, and approached the man.

Brad looked over his shoulder at her and smiled, "Welcome," he was wearing his usual pajamas. Crystal could not understand how the man was doing. Brad turned to the paintings against the windows, "I didn't realize you were so productive while we are here."

Crystal thought of other things that the man hadn't noticed, "Yeah, I gave myself a little bit of painting, when I had nothing else to do." she replied.

Brad turned to the girl, "I'm sorry about last night, I was hoping I did something good." he looked sincerely into her eyes, "I never wanted to hurt you."

Crystal nodded, “I know Brad, I wouldn't want to shout like that either, but you have to realize that it's hard for me to.” She was careful to talk one by one, she really didn't want to hurt or upset the man, but she didn't want to be the only one who made sacrifices in this relationship.

“I realize, baby,” Brad said, reaching out and wanting to hold Crystal's hands and hug, but realized she wouldn't allow it right now. "Would you like to talk about this again?"

"Yes," Crystal said, "I really want to talk to you, if you're going to listen to me this time."

Brad nodded eagerly, "Sure." he nodded.

They sat down in the orange seat for three together, Crystal made sure there was enough distance between them, and it was heartbreaking that she now needed some distance from Brad. But she couldn't undo what happened through the past 5 months.

“Brad, listen, even though it looks like we moved here for you, I wanted that too, and frankly it worked. I made friends here, I have a job, maybe I can do my own job, to be honest I feel better here than in Springfield. " Crystal spoke, looking into the man's eyes, making sure he was listening to everything she said. The biggest reason for the communication problem between them was that Brad was listening to what he wanted. But this time, Crystal was making sure everything she said was heard.

Brad didn't seem to understand, “But you have friends at home too.” he said, his brows were furrowed.

"Yes there are, and I miss them very much too." Crystal said, thinking about how to explain the sense of acceptance she found here, as Brad continued to speak.

"Everything can be the same as before, Crystal, we can be the same, you can keep doing the things you do at home again, you don't have to deal with things you don't understand," the man shrugged, "I'll go back to my own business." Brad might have kept talking and breaking Crystal’s heart more, but Crystal didn't let it.

"Brad," she said, taking a deep breath, "I don't want to be the same." her face reflected her seriousness and her voice sounded icy cold, "either respect this and try to keep up, or I have to tell you that you are alone in going back to the old life."

The fear in Brad's gaze seemed no stranger to Crystal. Not far away, a few weeks ago she wanted to be able to go back to the old herself, she wanted to find the old Brad, she wished they could be the old couple, so she understood what Brad was going through now. But Crystal was awake now, knowing that even though they were the same as before, it wouldn't be enough for her. She knew what to do.

"I don't think our relationship can recover anymore, Brad, I think we're coming to an end now." she said in one breath.

Brad was staring at her blankly, "No." he said only, it was understandable because he did not want to accept. He reached out and grasped Crystal's hands, "No Cryssie, you're wrong." he said quickly.

Crystal remembered how happy she had felt when Brad called her like that in the past, she could no longer feel her. "That's how I think, I can't ask you to leave the house right now, but I want you to know that I'm waiting for that." She pulled her own hands through the man's hands and stood up. "I want you to make your plans accordingly, without including me."

Brad had no idea what to do as the red-haired girl left and went to her bedroom.

***

The next day, Crystal went to her old friend's house when Jackie invited her. After talking to Brad the day before, she hadn't seen the man again. Crystal spent her day making jewelry in her bedroom, combining stones and beads to relax her mind, which was like meditation for her. Brad had given her the necessary space too, and stayed away from the bedroom.

When she went to the kitchen for water before going to bed at night, she had seen the man asleep on the sofa, returned to the room without disturbing, and found the feeling of emptiness of sleeping alone for the first time in that house in that bed. It was weird.

Brad wasn't home when she woke up in the morning. Crystal thought the man might have been out before, but it was the first time she saw that he was not home. She thought for a moment that he had left the house, but when she noticed Brad's belongings around, she realized that this thought was not true.

Crystal continued to make jewelry until Jackie called, and she gladly accepted Jackie's proposal because she had no other plans for the day. When she arrived at the woman's house, she realized that they were alone, "Didn't you invite anyone else?" she asked after she hugged her friend.

"I wanted to be alone today." Jackie said, and winked.

Crystal clapped her hands, "Very excited." she cried, and dropped herself into the seat she had been sitting in the last time she came.

A few minutes later, Jackie came over with two cups of coffee, handed one to Crystal and sat next to the girl, gathering her feet under her feet. "Tell me." she said, fixing her eyes on the redhead.

Crystal laughed. "What can I tell you?" she asked, trying not to be nervous. There seemed to be a lot of meaning behind Jackie's gaze.

"You can tell about what's going on lately." Jackie said and shrugged her shoulders, “Like, how's Brad?” she added.

Crystal understood now, but she was glad that Jackie brought it up, and she wanted to tell her what had happened, and since she was the only one around her who knew what was going on, only Jackie was the one she could tell now.

"I said I wanted to leave last night." she said and watched her friend's reaction, Jackie nodded as if she didn't want to interrupt and waited for Crystal to continue. Crystal took a big sip of her coffee after telling what happened and looked at Jackie.

Jackie was smiling, "I'm so proud, dear, that you finally did what you had to do for a long time!" she said enthusiastically, "I can only imagine how tiring this is for you, but I think you definitely did the right thing."

Crystal sighed with relief and accepted her friend's encouraging words. That felt good.

"Do you know what we should do?" Jackie said as she got up excitedly from her seat, "We have to celebrate this tonight!"

***

As Gigi entered the club with Nicky, she pulled her skewed skirt down her hips. Although her skirt was long, it was completely narrow, which caused her to slip up as she walked. She wore a long-sleeved black dress, her shoulders were uncovered, her black hair was gently waved, her eye makeup was colored in dark tones, and her lip a natural tone.

She was joining in with Nicky, who caught up at the last minute, Jackie's plan for the evening. She guessed that the girls were in the VIP section because they were going to be crowded. After she took Nicky by the hand and led her through the crowd, she saw the familiar faces of her friends in the private lodge, and realized she had guessed correctly.

Jackie was wearing one of her usual disco dresses, she sent a kiss to Gigi, Jaida looked glamorous in a purple sequin dress, had a young man beside her and he was whispering something to her ear, Gigi realized that the man was Jaida’s boyfriend. Without disturbing them, she kissed Brita's cheek and passed by and moved to where she set her eyes to sit in the lodge. She even smelled the coconut scent of the person she was sitting next to in this alcohol-filled environment.

She approached the redhead girl's curls and tried to make her voice heard, "I loved what you’re wearing." she said.

It was not a lie, Crystal was wearing a cheetah bodysuit that fits all over her, a mini black shorts over her mesh stockings, with a lot of belts and a lot of necklaces, Gigi now knew the girl's style and knew it was Crystal. Too many accessories. The girl's lips were as red as her hair, she smiled, Gigi couldn't believe how deep she had sunk.

"The model who came out of the fashion magazine says this." Crystal said, and chuckled. Gigi had never experienced anything that felt as good as Crystal saying she liked her.

Gigi rolled her eyes in a way that Crystal could see it and grabbed one of the cocktails that were left alone on the table and squeezed the straw between her lips. 

“How was your job interview?” Gigi asked. 

Crystal gave her a big smile, “It was good actually, they said they will let me know the results soon.”, she shrugged, “I know they always say that.” 

Gigi looked at the girl, tried to show her how serious she is, “I’m sure they will call you back, they wouldn't dare to lose somebody like you.” 

Crystal glanced away, “What got into you lately, Gee? Suddenly you talk in a much sweeter way, than you used to do.” she said when her eyes met with Gigi’s. 

“Well, she was the stranger Gigi, who doesn’t know you, I’m the friend Gigi now, who protects and trusts her friends no matter what.” 

Crystal looked so sensitive for a second, “Would you really trust me no matter what?” she asked.

Gigi couldn’t understand what Crystal was actually talking about. She saw the fragile look in her eyes and replied quickly, “Yes, of course I trust you, why would you ask such a question like this?”

“Nothing.” Crystal said. She was looking at the dance floor.   
Nicky waved at them from the dance floor, and called Gigi to go and dance with her. She didn't really want to dance tonight, her friends were going up and down around the table, going to the bar to have a drink or throwing themselves on the dance floor. Gigi was preoccupied with just drinking her refreshing cocktail as it became empty, and trying to get her mind from Crystal, who just got up and went to dance with Nicky.

Her body moved as if it was not listening to her, she stood up, holding her cocktail in her hand. She felt dizzy as she stood, her vision blurred under the flashing lights. She was feeling the effects of alcohol on her body, she was not one of the drunks causing problems, so she was not afraid of drinking alcohol with her friends. She proceeded to the bar to refresh her cocktail.

She also found Jan in one of the stools in the bar, flirting with one of the bartenders, Gigi was not surprised, nevertheless she did not want to distract the girl and moved forward through the bar to the other working bartender. "Hey!" After drawing the attention of the bartender by shouting, she left her empty glass in front of him, stated that she wanted another one of the same, handed her credit card while taking the newly prepared cocktail and made the payment. She did all this like a robot, it could not be said to be very dominated by her body, she was just doing what she had to do.

With her back to the bar, she leaned her elbows against the counter and settled between the two high stools, now opposite the dance floor. She recognized the song that started playing, and her eyes found the familiar girl who was jumping excitedly on the dance floor. It was seen from the arm movements that match the rhythm of the song that she lost herself in the song.

The first lyrics of Britney Spears were heard and Crystal began to move her lips, following the lyrics. Gigi sipped her cocktail. While she was shaking her scarlet hair, Gigi was convinced that the girl was indeed the "womanizer" described in the song. Her eyes met Gigi's as Crystal spun around and shook her hips. Crystal smiled, kept her eyes on other’s ice-blue eyes, and strode closer to Gigi as she kept her lips moving and singing the song.

Gigi didn't know what to expect from the girl approaching her, but she was ready to accept whatever was to come. The scarlet-haired girl curled her body in front of Gigi, moved her hands around her curves, and stood up, bending down and waving her hair without breaking her legs. Gigi could only watch the girl in a fascinated way. She had no idea what would happen in the next second.

Crystal took Gigi's hand and quickly pulled back. The black-haired girl managed to put her cocktail glass on the counter, and soon found herself sneaking into Crystal. Crystal wrapped her arms around Gigi's neck, directing the girl taller than her to dance with her. One of Crystal's plump legs was between Gigi's slender legs, moving to the side where Crystal guided her leg. 

As Gigi got used to the rhythm, she relaxed and began to giggle like Crystal. The effect of alcohol combined with the effect on Crystal made Gigi to feel like head over the feets. Unsure of what to do, her arms wrapped around the redhead girl's waist, and Crystal giggled again. She lifted her chin and approached Gigi's ear, "You're a good dancer." she said, her lips touching the tall girl's ear.

"Bullshit." Gigi said, and felt at ease at the girl's cheerful voice. There was no reason to be nervous after all.

The song had changed, but both girls didn't care, they kept swaying with the rhythm. Gigi could not restrain herself, whispering the words of the song that was playing in the girl's ear. "Do you think about us?"

Crystal swallowed, feeling Gigi's breath in her neck, and was sure she wouldn't make rational decisions at that moment. She turned her face to the tall girl's face, and she couldn't help smiling when she looked at this face, "I do, think about us." she whispered.

Gigi was sure this time, this time she was sure this was the right moment. She pressed her lips to the redhead's lips, and noticed that she was instantly reciprocated, she smiled without taking her lips from the other girl’s lips. She could feel Crystal was smiling too. She pulled her hands from the redhead's waist and placed it on either side of her face, holding her whole breath and kissed Crystal. She felt Crystal's arms tightening around her neck, she wrapped one arm back around her waist and pulled her closer, the other hand on her neck. Her lips separated only when they were out of breath.

Gigi didn't let go of Crystal, continued to kiss her lips, left little pecks, and smiled as she got back a little and looked at her freckled and flushed face. When she saw the look in Crystal's eyes, her smile froze on her face. She had seen this look before, and that's how Crystal looked at her, when she was walking away from her in her living room two nights earlier.

Gigi knew it was too late for this to happen again, but she tried anyway. "Crys" she said and grabbed the girl's face, "I realize you're afraid of something-"

Crystal pulled her long thin fingers from her face, “Sorry Gee,” her hazel eyes filled with tears, “I'm so sorry but I shouldn't have done that.” She let go of Gigi’s hands and turned and started running towards the exit.

Gigi remained in place for a few seconds. Crystal had run away from her arms again. She didn't think there was anything she did wrong, but each time the girl just left her. Crystal kissed her in such a way that nobody could have convinced Gigi that Crystal didn't feel anything for her anymore. So she went after the girl. When she stepped in front of the club, there was no trace of the redhead girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you wanna hate me, okay hate me, but this is a good ending, don't lie to me :):):)  
> you can always find me @methyds on twitter  
> -Ness.


	8. Crystal is a coward, Gigi is a detective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't be mad at me gays, and here's to you b, thanks for face timing me while writing it, you look so cute right now <3  
> the songs for this chapter are;  
> glee cast - survivor/i will survive  
> glee cast - rumour has it/someone like you  
> you can always find me @methdys on twitter, love y'all <3  
> -Ness

Crystal did not immediately return home after leaving Gigi on the dance floor and ran away, taking a long walk in the streets she did not know. She just walked, not knowing where she was going, not thinking where she was going. She couldn't get over how Gigi's lips made her feel. She dreamed that it would feel good, but she never expected it to be this good. From the first moment she saw Gigi, she had never hid how much she liked her, how much she admired her. But now she was sure she felt more than just admiration for her. In fact, she didn't remember having had such great feelings before.

Everything about Gigi scared her. The feelings she had for her, the emotions she had towards her, the kiss they shared was scary enough in itself. Crystal knew instantly that what was between them was special, it was very different. In the deepest corner of her heart she felt that Gigi was for her, as if she had always been there and Crystal had just realized it.

But she couldn't stay there and pretend to share exactly the same feelings and desires with her. Although she told Brad that she wanted to end the relationship, the man was still at her house, and Gigi didn't even know that a person named Brad was present. She couldn’t say to Gigi after kissing her, "By the way, there is a man named Brad at my house, he's my ex-boyfriend, we broke up yesterday." She had to resist that kiss from the very beginning. She wasn't strong enough to do this.

Finally she found herself at the door of her house. She entered the house wishing Brad was asleep, but found the man sitting on the sofa in the living room. Her phone in the back pocket of her shorts started to vibrate, picking it up, she saw the missed calls and messages from Gigi. She shouldn't have felt her phone vibrate while walking. At that moment Jackie was calling. She refused the call and turned off her phone completely.

"How was your night?" Brad asked, not looking bad.

Crystal shrugged, "I don't want to talk." she said quietly, headed for the bedroom, Brad spoke again.

"Are you cheating on me?"

Crystal stood where she was, her whole body froze, not wanting to have this conversation after all that was spinning in her head. "I don't want to talk." she said louder.

She heard Brad rise from his seat, "I want to talk, but look at my face and tell me you are cheating on me, Crystal." The man grabbed her elbow and turned to herself, "Come on, tell me." 

Crystal could not understand the overlap of all of the events, and she was not in a position to handle it all now. “Please Brad,” she said pleadingly, “I just want to sleep.”

Brad wasn't giving up, "I want to know who you cheated with." His voice was getting louder, "I already know you're cheating on me, Cryssie, tell me who he is, is that someone Jackie introduced or someone you met in that modeling job?" the man laughed with irony, "Tell me who is that man?" Then he shook the girl with grasping her elbow.

"Where did you get that it is a man?" Crystal said, uncontrollably, if Brad wanted to talk that much, then she would. Whether he liked it or not, she didn't care anymore.

"I told you yesterday that whatever was between me and you was over, but it was a long time ago, from the day you locked yourself in the bedroom and started using me as your maid, there is no such thing as you and me, Brad.” She released her arm from the man's hands, and continued to speak without gasping.

“You used me as your servant and I allowed it because I felt sorry for you. I waited for you to wake up and tried to make you old Brad, but I couldn't do it alone, you ignored them all. ” She was yelling now and it was past the point where she could stop herself.

“You left me alone for months, I've been single ever since Brad, but still I repeat in language you understand, I didn't cheat on you. Believe me, I had a lot of opportunities, but I didn't, because I respect myself more than you do, yesterday I told you that the relationship between us was over, and from that point on you can't ask me to account for anything. " Crystal gasped, her throat ache, but nothing could hurt her more than the pain of her experiences with Gigi stained under the guise of cheating on Brad.

Brad laughed, his smile looked so fake and annoying that Crystal took a step back, “The last person I would expect such a thing from was you, Crystal.” said the man, "And now you expect me to believe you cheated on me with a woman?" he laughed again, "I was right to suspect Jackie." he twisted his eyebrows up and down.

Crystal took a deep breath of anger, "Jackie has nothing to do with that," she said in one breath, "and surprise! I like women too, I even like a certain woman right now! ” at this point she was yelling. 

She paused, realizing what she had just confessed to Brad. She hadn't tried to hide her sexual orientation from anyone, but she hadn't seen the need to tell Brad. Because she knew Brad, he was from Springfield like her, he had certain thoughts on some issues, maybe she didn't want to argue in vain.

Brad's gaze faded suddenly, she could see the change in his eyes, "So what, are you a lesbian now?" he said, the change in his voice was also clearly audible.

Crystal laughed furiously, "Is that all you have to worry about now?" Stepped closer to the man, "I won't bear that anymore, Brad," she put her index finger on the man's chest, "I want you to leave this house as soon as possible." She finished her words looking into his eyes and took two steps back and walked away.

Without turning around and walking into the bedroom, “After that, there's Crystal, I'm not trying for anyone but myself.” she said to herself. 

***

By the time Gigi arrived at Jackie's office, it was 3 days since the last night she saw Crystal. The first day she had called her phone nonstop, but the redhead girl kept her phone off until evening. She understood that she had turned on her phone and when she called again, the phone had ringed twice, but was later rejected. When she tried to call again, the line was constantly dropping.

From that point on, she told Jackie what happened. No matter how much it hurts Gigi that Crystal didn't want to talk to her, it would be good to just know that she was okay. So she let Jackie try to reach her. But she could not get any results from these efforts. Crystal was also not responding to Jackie's calls.

Jackie said she understood Gigi's anxiety, she had to give Crystal some time, and whenever she felt ready, she would confront Gigi. Gigi did that too. The next two days did nothing to reach Crystal. Other than that, it could not be said that she did much.

Her roommate Nicky noticed the change in Gigi and offered a lot of things to distract her. She said they could even go to Vegas, but Gigi just made sure her phone was fully charged and turned on, and she spent both days at home. Crystal could call her, or she could come straight home. She should have been ready for either option.

During her stay at home she had thought about what scared Crystal, she was trying so hard to find it that she began to feel that her head was going to explode. She just wanted to get inside Crystal's head and find whatever element of that fear was, tear it apart and destroy it. So Crystal could be free.

The problem was not that Crystal didn't want her, at least that wasn't the biggest problem. Gigi was sure she saw that desire in her eyes before she kissed the girl, and from the very beginning she was aware that there was a different attraction between her and Crystal. It was that heat shot coming from the girl towards her that melted Gigi's ice walls. For the first time in her life that made her strive for someone. It was the warm, coconut-smelling little sunlight that Crystal scattered around her that tickled Gigi's stomach. She was sure that Crystal wasn't a good liar, that girl could never lie.

So she eliminated the option of not wanting Gigi, and that gave her a sigh of relief. Then the first thing that came to mind was that Crystal might have been afraid of such a relationship. She didn't know what kind of relationships Crystal had before, she didn't know if she had even been with any woman before. Maybe Gigi was the first for her so she might be afraid.

The only way to be sure of this was Jackie. Jackie must have known. On her next step, Gigi found herself in Jackie's office. Luckily, Jaida was also there. When Gigi opened the glass door and stepped into Jackie's office, they both stopped speaking suddenly. Gigi was sure they were talking something she shouldn't have heard, and she knew these two women well enough to understand what they were doing from the expressions on their faces.

So as soon as she walked in, "What's going on?" she asked.

Jackie smiled, "Welcome baby Geege, I didn't know you were going to visit me today." she said, getting up from the chair behind her desk.

"I have to talk to you about something," said the tall girl, "but right now I want to know what you are talking about." She looked intently into both Jaida's and Jackie's eyes, showing how serious she was. Somehow whatever they were talking about, she was sure, it was about Crystal.

Jaida gestured to Gigi, pointing to the chair opposite her seat. "Okay, but sit down first." said. Gigi sat down and waited for Jackie to sit back on her chair, "Just as you can't reach Crystal, we can't reach her too, and I have a photoshoot tomorrow for her." As Jaida spoke, Jackie nodded in agreement with the woman's words.

"So, you haven't gotten any response from her for 3 days and are you still sitting here?" Gigi's voice was louder, unable to hide her anxiety. Someone had to be sure that Crystal was fine now.

Jackie reached over her desk, took Gigi's hand and squeezed, "When I get out of here today, I will go to her house and not leave until she opens the door, please calm down." she said quietly.

Gigi nodded, "You should have done this by now Jackie, I don't understand how you can be so calm, I can never silence the voices in my head." Gigi had already regretted when she said, but later realized she had given too much information.

"What did you come to talk about?" Jaida asked, thus distracting Gigi.

"You must have also learned what happened," Gigi continued, looking at Jaida, nodding her head with approval, "I've been thinking about what scared Crystal since that night, and something caught my mind." She fixed her gaze on Jackie, not wanting to miss any of her expressions, "Do you know Crystal has ever had a relationship with a woman before?" she asked.

Jackie could not help her smile, it made her very happy that Gigi was now showing her value to Crystal without any hesitation, so she thought she had no choice but to be completely honest with Gigi. "Yes, she was in high school, and she even told me that she was dating a girl in college, if I remember correctly." She turned her face to Jaida, "The girl was a gymnast, by what she said." she added and moved her eyebrows flirtatiously.

Jaida rolled her eyes on this comment and muttered, “Chile...”.

Gigi didn't get caught up in the last comment, but there was no reason to keep it after what Jackie said. Why was Crystal running from her? Jackie noticed the change in Gigi's face, "Baby Geege?" Jackie called.

Gigi turned her eyes to her friend, “I just want to know what happened.” Jackie took a deep breath, “It bothers me to sit here and not know what is happening. If there is anything I can do, I want to do it." 

She stared at the ceiling and hoped that the tears would not flow, “If she just doesn't want me,” she turned her eyes back to Jackie, “believe me, I won't meet you guys again, I'll let her be with you, I’ll let her keep seeing you, I really do my best, but-” with her voice breaking, she fell silent and gritted her lower lip so as not to cry. She was not crying easily, she hated to cry, so she held back with all her might.

Jaida reached out and took both hands of the model girl, “You didn't do anything wrong, darling, you wouldn't know-”

"Jaida!"

Gigi looked up at her two friends, what was Jaida about to say, and why had Jackie stopped her? "What is happening?" she asked.

Unable to get an answer from either of them, she insisted, “There are things you keep hiding from me! I'm not leaving until you tell me. " she said, crossing her legs.

Jackie drew her evil gaze off the blushing Jaida, took a deep breath, reminding herself that she didn't want to lie to Gigi and at this point she should know now. "Yes, there's something I didn't tell you about Crystal, but the reason I didn't tell you was because I thought Crystal would tell you someday." She pointed around with her hands, “Crystal, as we can see, is a bit late for that, because now I think you should learn.” 

So Jackie explained why and with whom Crystal moved to Los Angeles. She recounted everything Crystal told her in the same way, how Brad was behaving over the past few months, how Crystal felt about it, the change she had seen with Crystal since she got here, and finally Crystal found the strength to tell Brad that they broke up.

"The last time she told me about Brad was that she left him and waited for him to leave the house, so I decided to celebrate that night." added Jackie.

Gigi listened to the whole story in silence. Everything that Jackie told about was stuck in her heart like sharp glass. Everything she added hurt. It hurt that Crystal had kept it from her all this time, but it also hurt more to imagine Crystal's pain over the man in her life.

Jaida interrupted, guessing how Gigi might think, "Don't think Crystal was purposely hiding this from you, Gigi, I didn't know, only Jackie knew."

Jackie nodded, "She was only talking about these things when I insisted, Brad bothers her so much that she didn't want to talk about him again after she left the house." She saw that Gigi wasn't convinced, "Crystal was already trying to get him out of her life, so she didn't want to tell anyone."

Gigi nodded, smiled to herself, "You're right, maybe she doesn't want to take it out of her life anymore, and they're back to where they came from." She stood nervously, applauded her words, "And they lived happily ever after." She left the office without letting the other two women stop her.

"I'll let you know when I talk to Crystal!" she heard Jackie’s words.

She left the building and stopped where she was when fresh air hit her face in the street. Jackie was going to go to Crystal in a moment, her home, the house where that man was. The house where the man who gave Crystal a few months of hell. Gigi strode briskly to the park next to the agency, and sat down on a bench, where she was sure anyone leaving the door would not see her.

***

When Crystal opened the door, seeing one of her oldest friends was even more delighted than she thought. She had ignored Jackie's calls for a few days, but she didn't realize she needed to see her so much. "Jackie!" she said as she hugged the girl.

Jackie wrapped her in her arms, "If you wanted to kill us out of worry, you almost succeeded, baby." she said as she retreated.

Crystal smiled guilty, "Sorry Jackie, I haven't been able to call you for a few days." She looked back over her shoulder and made sure Brad was still in his bedroom. “If you wait two seconds, I can grab my bag and leave. It's very messy inside, so we'd better go out. " she smiled, not lying.

Jackie shook her head, "Of course, I'm waiting."

Crystal rushed to the hall, found her bag between her canvases, made sure that her purse and key were in it, then hung it over her shoulder, looked at herself in the mirror before she came back, she was wearing a T-shirt that was two sizes larger than her and short tights. She didn’t think she was going out that day. She didn't care. She realized how much she needed Jackie, so she hurried.

She poked her head into the bedroom, Brad continued to gather his things as he said. But he was doing it so slowly that Crystal was trying to stay away from him to avoid a nervous breakdown. "I am out." she called out and left the house without waiting for his reply.

Jackie took her to a cafe where they had met before for lunch. Crystal felt a little better since it was a place she had come before. She wondered if Jackie had done this on purpose, sometimes being captivated by how well Jackie knew her.

While Jackie ordered black coffee, Crystal only wanted water. She had enough coffee at night, in fact the amount of coffee she had drunk for the last few days was out of count. "Should I ask, or will you talk?" Jackie said, with the smile Crystal had known for years. 

Crystal realized how lucky she was to have a friend like Jackie, a chance that not everyone could have. She did not know if she was a worthy friend for her. She hoped it could. So she started to talk about what happened with Gigi at the club, she was telling the fight she had with Brad when Jackie's coffee and her water came. She didn't want to hide anything from Jackie, although it was annoying to re-voice what Brad said.

"I don't know if he's collecting his stuff for two days, or pretending to be collecting it," she took a deep breath, "I can't stand watching him so I have no idea what he's actually doing." Her eyes were on her water glass, “I'm tired now J, I'm tired of arguing with him, tired of waiting for him to do something, I'm tired of letting myself down.”

Jackie interrupted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Crystal shrugged. She turned her eyes to her friend, "I feel like I can't control anything in my life J."

"You don't lose control just because some dick has managed to get into your life, baby, you did everything you had to do, you did nothing wrong." Jackie smiled sincerely at her friend, "If that asshole is stubborn, we'd be more stubborn than he is." She was glad that she could make her smile a little bit, "Now we will go home, get your necessary things, then we will go to mine, you will stay with me until that asshole leaves your house."

Crystal was aware that she could not put her gratitude into words, remained silent and nodded. Then she asked the question that has been puzzling her brain for days, "How's Gigi?" 

"Gigi was very worried," Jackie stared at Crystal with an embarrassed expression, "Crystal I'm sorry, but I had to tell Gigi about Brad."

Crystal closed her eyes, knew it had to happen, hoped she could get him out of her life without telling Gigi and the other girls, but it seemed that everything was not going as she hoped. She wished Gigi didn't hate her, that was enough for her, Gigi would just not hate her.

***

Gigi was waiting in front of the apartment that Jackie entered, it had been a few minutes since Jackie entered, and Gigi was sure she wasn't visible through the door. The hot dog cart she was hiding behind completely concealed her. She didn't care that her hair could smell like a hot dog. She took her electronic cigarette from her bag, took a few puffs and then noticed Jackie leaving the apartment.

Crystal was also following her. She noticed her in black short leggings and a pale pink shirt that seemed to be swallowing her. Her red wavy hair was in a messy bun. Gigi would rather break that bun and have the curls falling off her shoulders. She could not see the girl's face, but made sure that both women walked away.

She came out of her hiding place and strode to the door of the apartment, the bells of the apartments were outside. She glanced at the bells, felt lucky to see only 4 apartments, at the bell of apartment number 1 C. E. Methyd / B. Anderson was writing. She felt both delighted to find the right bell, and like she had hit a wall because she had already encountered the reality of that man. She did not give up, rang the bell, and kept pressing until the automatic door opened.

The door opened, entered the building, climbed several stairs, saw the door of apartment number 1. The door was open, a brunet man was staring at her. The man's hair was tied around the neck, he wore a black tank top and gray sweatpants, not taller than Gigi, not like a muscular one, but enough built.

She approached the door, "Are you Brad?" she asked.

"Yes," said the man, frowning, "who are you?"

“Gigi. Gigi Goode. ”


	9. Burnt pink lips on pale pink lips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, i don't know what happened to me but here we are again after a day with a new chapter, and we're really so close to finale... yep, it's a little heartbroken. 
> 
> the songs for this chapter are;   
> glee cast - wide awake  
> glee cast - mine 
> 
> you can always find me @methyds on twitter, love y'all <3  
> -Ness

Gigi realized from the expression on the face of the man in front of her that he didn't recognize her. She was sure that Crystal hadn't told her about this man, nor about herself to the man. The fact that Crystal was unable to tell her about one of the most influential elements of her life broke Gigi's heart more than she could imagine. But she would think about that later. Her priority right now was to save Crystal from this man who turned her life into a prison. Whether Crystal is in Gigi's life from now on or not. Gigi would always continue to care for the girl.

"Can I go in, Brad?"

It was obvious that he was confused, "Do I know you?" he asked skeptically.

Gigi smiled, it was a fake one, "I know you, I think that's enough." She took another step toward the door, "There are a few things I want to talk to you about, let's talk here if you want, or inside if you want."

Brad opened the door a little more and let the black-haired girl he didn't know to come in. He didn't know why, but he didn't like the girl at all. Maybe it was because of the smug look on the girl's face and the "I know everything best" attitude. When the girl said she knew him, he thought of only one person, Crystal.

Gigi didn't like the idea that she came to Crystal’s home to talk to her "boyfriend" for the first time. She knew that if Crystal had told her all in the beginning, she would still do it. She no longer doubted that she would do everything she could to protect the redhead girl.

One side of the room was completely filled with paintings, she knew immediately that these belonged to Crystal, at least she told her about her hobbies and the profession she wanted to do. She hoped that the girl could later admire her drawings. This was not her priority right now.

The other part of the room was full of open suitcases, while around the suitcases were items waiting to be collected. "I think you're gathering." Gigi said, turning to the man who was following her behind.

"I guess you like hanging around mysteriously, but do you want to tell me how you know me and why you're here?" Brad shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tied his arms around his chest.

Gigi laughed, "I'm a friend of your ex-girlfriend," she liked the frown of the guy, "and I didn't like what I heard about you, so I came to talk to you face to face."

Brad raised his eyebrows, "What did you hear about me?"

"I've heard you pretend like you are still with Crystal even though she left you, and I know what you did to Crystal until she left you.” Gigi spoke comfortably, showing with all her body language that she was stronger than the man, and she was sure the man had noticed this too.

The brunette man put his hands on his waist, "Why does this concern you then?"

Gigi was not at all impressed by the man's harsh voice, nor by his rigid gaze, "Everything about Crystal interests me too." she smiled. She pointed to the suitcases on the floor with her fingers, "How many days have you pretended to prepare these?"

"I don't think it's your business, madam, and I ask you to leave my apartment now." Brad was using his last remaining courtesy.

“Oh, Brad,” Gigi said in a pitying tone, “I understand how painful it can be to lose Crystal, believe me,” Gigi was so sincere in saying that, “but by doing so, you can't get her back. You won't be able to get her back. It's been a long time since she left you, wake up and realize that. By doing this, you humiliate yourself even more. "

"I lost her and you have her now?" This time Brad was laughing, he saw the black-haired girl's smile freezing on her face, realizing he was on the right track. "Do you think you know Crystal in a few weeks? I have been with her for 3 years, I know her, now I understand what she thinks, I know what she wants. " Although Brad didn't quite believe his words himself, he aimed to make Gigi believe it. "I'm leaving for now because Crystal wants the old Brad, the old me, the man she's in love with, she doesn't want anyone else." He looked down at the girl with his sarcastic gaze, "She can have fun with you while I'm away, live the little lesbian fantasy, but when I come back, you won't have a chance, pretty.”

Gigi wanted to punch the man, or kick, no matter how, she wanted to use her nerve on the man somehow. "You don't know anything about us." she said, through her teeth.

"But I know all about Crystal." Brad said, and continued, “Crystal comes into your life suddenly, shines like a sunshine, it's so fun to be with her, it takes you out of the pit where you sink, gives a meaning to your life, you do things for her that you didn’t do for yourself to make her happy, she becomes the center of your life, you think there is nothing you can't do for her, because she gives you hope, she gives you joy, she gives you energy, you want to hurt the things that upset her when she cries, when she laughs you try to keep making her laugh,” he hesitated and took a deep breath, “then suddenly she's done with you, the light disappears, you don't know where to go and what to do, you go blind, you become deaf, and she blames you for all of them, and slips from your hands before you can recover.” He paused, looked into Gigi's ice blue eyes, "Now she can have fun with you, when she gets bored I'll be the one for her to come to."

Gigi took a few quick steps towards the man, “You're leaving this house today, Brad, you will leave Crystal alone as she pleases, it has nothing to do with me or you, you will only do it for Crystal's sake, if you don't, I don't think that you might see Crystal again." She wanted to leave the house without losing herself, but she had to make sure she was doing what she came for first. She could read through the man's eyes that she had accomplished this.

"So who are you again?" said the man, standing still. He was trying not to show that he was shaken inside.

Gigi headed towards the door, didn't turn around, opened the door, "I'm a friend who wants only the best for Crystal, and you're not good for her, Brad." she said without looking at the man. She also knew that Crystal would hear what was happening here. Crystal was the only reason she held herself. She was trying not to do anything to upset the girl. As Gigi left the door, she heard what the man said behind her, wishing she wouldn't.

"You're just a nine-day wonder, Gigi Goode, I'm the man she fell in love with."

***

When Crystal got home, she was feeling much better because she talked to Jackie. The support she received from her old friend was always good for her. She felt pain in her stomach with the thoughts of ignoring Gigi for days, and not knowing how to be the same again with the girl. After telling Gigi everything, she just hoped she would understand her. She could be interested in her feelings for the girl after Brad has walked out her life.

She found Brad in the living room next to several closed suitcases, and he was holding a key. She knew from the view that Brad was ready to go. She felt a weight finally lift off her.

"Hello." she said as she dropped her purse on the single seat.

Brad said with a knowing smile, "You may think your new girlfriend is working, but I'm sure you’ll regret that you sent her here."

Crystal repeated what he said in her head several times to understand what the man was talking about. "What are you talking about?" 

"Gigi Goode." Brad said simply, “She was here. I did not understand why you sent her here, but we had a nice conversation. " He grinned, "She’s hot, by the way, congratulations.”

Crystal felt cold from head to toe, "What did you say to her?" managed to say. She couldn't imagine Gigi talking to Brad, how she found her house, why did she come, what did Brad say to her, what did she say? There was so much she wanted to learn.

"She came to tell me to get out of your life, pretended to know you very well, I showed her she was wrong." Brad spoke as if it were so simple, and Crystal had trouble believing what she was hearing.

“Brad, I hope you didn't tell her any nonsense, or-”

“Or what, Crystal? What do you do, do you leave me? You've already done it. "

Crystal took a deep breath, "Gigi is not my girlfriend, Brad, so I don't want you to have told her wrong things, or that you spoke unpleasantly."

Brad raised his eyebrows, “Not your girlfriend, is that so?” he laughed, "Seemed to me quite eager to scissors with you."

Crystal's mouth fell open, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Brad, watch your mouth!" she said, through her teeth.

"Now I'm leaving the house, don't worry, you can run into your dyke lover's bed."

Crystal's slap landed on Brad's cheek. When Crystal realized what she was doing, she covered her mouth with her hands and took a few steps back. She didn't know how she did this, but she knew that she could no longer contain her anger. "Get out of this house now!" she said in one breath.

Brad took the girl's hand, left the keys into her palm, the expression on his face that Crystal's heart trembled. The man hung his bag on his shoulder, took both suitcases and left the house. Crystal was left with what had just happened.

She didn't know when and how Brad turned into such a man, and it hurt her not to know the person she once knew anymore. But the thing that hurt the most was thinking that Gigi might have heard of this man she didn't know. She had to talk to Gigi. She had to see Gigi.

***

Crystal did not dare call Gigi, but sent a message. "Can we talk?" Gigi responded by simply sending a location. Crystal left the house the moment she received the message and went to the location the girl had sent.

As the weather darkened, the warm day was replaced by cool breezes. Gigi was on the Malibu beach, sitting on an old pier, waving her feet, watching the full moon. She understood from the sound of Crystal's platform shoes on the wooden pier, that the redhead girl was here. She did not move or say anything.

First, the smell of the girl came to her nose, the mixture of coconut and her own fragrance, this scent reminded her of the burning of the sunlight on her skin. She had to be careful, she might tan a little bit if she put on sunscreen, but she was sure she would burn if she wasn't careful. Gigi felt the same way about her feelings for Crystal. Then Crystal sat next to her, shook her feet like she did, did not turn her head towards her, and she could tell from the corner of her eye that the girl was not looking at her either.

For a while they quietly listened to the waves of the ocean and watched the full moon. Crystal broke the silence first. "I’m sorry."

"No need to apologize."

Crystal looked at her, “No, I have to apologize because I wasn't completely honest with you. I have to apologize because you experienced things you didn't deserve because of me. "

Gigi turned to her too, and looked into her hazel eyes, "You owe me nothing, Crystal, I was aware of what I was doing, and what I would face."

"I should have told you." Crystal said quietly and turned her eyes full again, “Brad turned me into such a person that I hated who I was with him. So I decided not to tell my new friends about him at all, he would be out of my life anyway, I didn't want people to pity me, or to misunderstand me because I still haven't left him.” The wind made her shiver, she wrapped her arms around herself, "I wanted to exist without Brad, I just wanted to be Crystal, but every time I came home he was there." She took a deep breath, "I didn't use you to get away from him, Gigi, I would never do this to you, everything between Brad and me was over before we moved here, I just wanted to give him time to get himself together, and then I met you." she said and stopped.

She had so much more to say in her head, but she didn't know how to say it. She was even grateful that Gigi listened to her. So she was also afraid of making the situation worse by saying too much.

"I know." said only the black-haired girl. “I may not have shown you that you can tell me everything. I am aware of how cold and prickly I look from outside. ” She laughed before continuing, “Actually I am. I don't include everyone in my life, I don't smile at everyone, I don't treat everyone sincerely because I find it absurd. Maybe it's because of the way I was raised, maybe that's just my character, I don't know. ” she shrugged.

"No matter how cold you seemed, it never pushed me." She said, trying to be as clear as possible while Gigi was looking at her, "On the contrary, I wanted to get to know you more."

Gigi laughed, "So you asked for it." made the scarlet-haired girl laugh too. "I know I'm a difficult person," she looked into the girl's eyes, "but I can make things easier for the people I care about."

Crystal nodded in agreement, “I know you talked to him today. Whatever he told you, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have heard anything he said, I know how hurtful Brad can be when he speaks to protect himself. " she said, she didn't even want to think about what Gigi might have heard anymore.

Gigi smiled, "Believe me I don't care what he says." Then she looked at the girl next to her, "Maybe I should never have gotten there either, but after I found out what he did to you I couldn't stop myself." Her smile also passed the girl next to her. "Even thinking that you had put up with him all this time made me admire you even more, as if I wasn't admired enough."

"Thank you." Crystal didn't know why she was smiling, but it was good to realize that Gigi didn't hate her.

“If I knew what was going on, I would never act like that, Crys. ” Gigi said, her smile dropped, "I'm sorry too."

"No." Crystal said, "You have nothing to apologize for, it was me who acted like a fool, and I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you."

"I'm not sorry at all." Gigi's eyes shifted to the redhead girl's burnt pink lips, disbelieving it was her natural lip color, dreaming of making sure it wasn't lipstick by kissing her every time her eyes slipped to her lips. She knew it wasn't lipstick, but she could do anything to test it out too.

Crystal was aware of Gigi's gaze, and the last words she said caused the rhythm of her heart to double. “Gigi,” she said in a whispering voice, not knowing how to continue.

Crystal was sure when her hazel eyes found Gigi’s eyes, that she saw the ice blue was darkening. "Brad is gone." she could say, trying to hide her excitement. "I'm completely free now."

"Great." The black-haired girl's voice was hoarse, Crystal's stomach tightened. "What will you do now, free Crystal?"

Crystal loved the way her name came out of Gigi's mouth, "There's something I've wanted to do for a while." she said, her voice stiffened, her gaze landed on Gigi's pale pink lips, the lipstick she had worn before stayed like only the frame, and Crystal loved the look.

She leaped forward and closed the distance between them, joined her lips with Gigi's plump lips, her hands grasped Gigi's face, and finally she felt the enthusiasm of kissing her without any doubt in her mind.

Gigi reacted instantly, her arms wrapped around Crystal's waist and pulled her, her lips grabbed her lips, not asking for permission as before, kissing her willingly, embracing, firing every spark between them. She ran her tongue between Crystal's lips, and when she parted her lips, she slid her tongue between her lips into her mouth. With Crystal's groan between her arms, she grabbed the girl by the waist and pulled her on herself.

Crystal easily sat on her lap, her hands stopped grasping Gigi's face, one hand mingled with black hair, the other hand landed on her neck. All the voices in her head were silent, she was just listening to her instincts and was following the sweet pain that flowed from Gigi's lips to her lips. She rolled her hips on Gigi's lap and the girl's response was a fiery moan. Crystal felt that she was melting.

Gigi couldn't handle Crystal making the same move again, she grabbed her curvy hips with her hands, and fixed it in her lap. In return, Crystal bit Gigi's lip. Gigi giggled and pulled her lips away from the girl, resting her forehead on her forehead. Both of their breaths were intermingled.

"Are you happy?" Gigi asked.

"Very much." Crystal replied.


	10. Girlfriends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter made me so soft, i hope you'll enjoy it too :)  
> mal, thanks for inspo xo  
> the songs for this chapter are;   
> nelly furtado - i'm like a bird  
> glee cast - teenage dream (acoustic)
> 
> and also there is a little smut scene in this chapter, i put warnings at the beginnig and end of that scene, if you're uncomfortable with it, pls skip that part and read the rest :)  
> you can always find me @methyds on twitter, love y'all   
> -Ness

Crystal had completed the photo shoot for a wig brand. She had a great time posing in colorful wigs. She learned that Jaida realized how much fun she had with different colored wigs. Jaida had told Crystal that she would arrange photo shoots with more colorful concepts in the future. Crystal was grateful.

It was already dark when she left the set, she answered the messages on her phone. It was written that there will be a party in Brita's apartment in the evening in the group to which Jackie added her. Crystal was excited and wrote that she might be a little late, but she would be there. When she glanced at the people who answered, she saw Nicky’s message "me and my roommate who is too happy for normal, Ms. Goode is coming too”. She had a big grin on her face as she saw the Uber she asked for.

She shared last night the same Uber with Gigi. Along the way, they just laughed without speaking and listened to Gigi's playlist together. Crystal had recently added her favorite song to the 80s-heavy list, using some force. She remembered how peaceful she felt listening to her favorite song with Gigi. She didn't remember which part of the song it was in, but at one point Gigi took Crystal's hand and didn't let go until she got out of the car.

It was Gigi who first arrived her destination, she had reached out and kissed Crystal on the cheek, and before she left, "Thank you for making my night so much better, good night Crys." she said.

Crystal understood what the girl was doing, remembering the first evening they had spent alone weeks ago. It was she who kissed Gigi's cheek as she left and said the same words. Although she didn't realize it at the time, she was still instinctive and, despite the cold sight of Gigi, which she liked so much, she kissed her. She chuckled to herself.

She went into her house where she lived alone now, took a quick shower, Brad's absence didn't make her feel anything, maybe because she'd wanted this space for a long time. She just wouldn't want to break up with the person she spent years with. At least she wanted to remember him well, or she would like to tell people well about him who asked him. She has never been a person holding a grudge against someone. Crystal hated to hate. So she didn't hate Brad, she still felt sorry for him. Crystal saw who he could be, but Brad had taken a different path. This was what upset Crystal the most.

She reminded herself that she didn't want to think about Brad any more. She wore a navy blue sequin dress that revealed the curves of her body, applied blue tones of make-up on her eyes, rubbed red lipstick on her lips, and fluffed her hair. It was her, it was so Crystal.

She reached Brita's apartment again thanks to the location Jackie had sent. The door was open, and Crystal had no idea how to find her friends among the crowd. There was no furniture that should have been in the living room, she guessed it was emptied for the party. A small DJ table was set up in a corner and the DJ was at work playing pop songs. In the dance hall she saw Jan, with Heidi and Nicky. She didn't want to bother them.

She passed by different groups of people, noticed Brita as she was just passing by, and thought she had to say hi. "Hey, Brita!" she said, taking her arm.

“Crystal, welcome!” Brita said cheerfully, she embraced her with the usual big smile on her face. Her joy went directly to Crystal. The brunette woman radiated such energy that Crystal thought she wanted to be like her. Someone who can make people around her smile immediately. "When you are the host of the party, you think you can have fun, but it's not possible." she shrugged and laughed immediately afterward, which made Crystal laugh too, "Girls are on the balcony." she said and left, adding that she had things to take care of in the kitchen.

Crystal went straight to the balcony after what Brita said, and found her friends on the balcony. Jackie was talking to someone on the phone, in the corner, her elbows are on the railing. Jaida was giving kisses to the tall man who was wrapped around her waist, thinking that the man was the boyfriend Jaida had mentioned earlier. In the corner she saw Gigi, leaning on the railing, holding a drink in one hand and taking a breath from her electronic cigarette in the other. The girl was wearing a red velvet dress, long but with a slit showing her long slender leg. She had her black hair pulled together in a messy bun, looking like a goddess.

As she turned to her side, she also noticed the man next to Gigi. A young blond man taller than Gigi was talking to her. Gigi seemed to be listening too. The body language of both did not seem to be a problem with Crystal, she tried to keep her thoughts optimistic.

"Am I too late?" she asked, drawing attention to her.

Jaida left the man she was in his arms and kissed Crystal on the cheek, "The party is just getting started, baby." she said as they greeted her. She pointed to the black man she was with, "Will, my boyfriend." Jaida said with a chuckle, obviously she was drinking too much alcohol.

"Nice to meet you." Crystal said at the same time as Will. They were a very nice looking couple, and she couldn't help but envy.

“Hi, Crystal,” the blonde man said as he held out his hand, “I'm Joey, the boyfriend of the beauty who hosted the party.” he winked at the girl.

Crystal also shook hands with Joey and thought Brita had no trouble bewitching this man, the man had no chance in front of Brita.

She took a bottle of beer from the small table between them, opened the lid and leaned on the railing next to Gigi. "You look very beautiful." she said before taking a sip of her beer.

The black-haired girl fixed her blue eyes on Crystal, watched her swallow her beer, then wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled red lips to her nude lips. Crystal gasped. She did not expect such a welcome from Gigi, but she was not complaining either. Crystal just uttered her amazement, Gigi stepped back, "I miss you." she said and kissed the red lips again.

Crystal just chuckled. Gigi was making Crystal both breathless and mind-blowing. She didn't know how to deal with it, but she would do whatever she could. She rolled her eyes on the girl's face, her ice-blue eyes shivered inside, her little upturned nose was perfect, her features looked like she was made by a sculptor's hands, her lips were plump, and she felt great on her own lips. She reached out and kissed her, "Me too." she said when she pulled her back.

"If you're going to behave like conjoined twins like this, I wouldn't hesitate to take a pair of scissors and cut you, ladies." Jackie had finished the phone conversation, talking loudly to them.

Crystal felt blushing, buried her face on Gigi's shoulder, and the taller girl responded to Jackie, "We love you too, Cox, can you bring my girlfriend a glass of white wine, please?" she heard her say.

***

Hours passed, the number of people at the party was halved, Crystal and Gigi were among the people dancing in the hall, Crystal's arms on Gigi's neck, Gigi's arms on Crystal's waist. They were swaying cheek to cheek to the beat of the song. The words spoken by the male vocal accelerated the heart rhythm of both. Gigi was quietly whispering the lyrics of the song into Crystal's ear. Crystal was aware that the blood flow through her body was accelerating, feeling an incredible need for the girl in her arms.

"We can dance until we die, you and I, we’ll be young forever." Gigi's warm breath was whispering in Crystal's ear.

* smut *  
Crystal grabbed her hand on her waist and dragged her to the bathroom she went earlier to because of her need for a break. Luckily there was no one in the bathroom. She pulled Gigi in, closed and locked the door. Gigi must have understood why Crystal had locked them in here so that she pushed the redhead girl against the door and her lips found each other.

In need of Crystal, she kissed her lips hard, her hands running around her curvy body, while Crystal grabbed Gigi's bun and slid her lips around the black-haired girl's neck. Crystal's wet kisses smeared with her red lipstick on Gigi's white skin, but neither of them cared.

Gigi hugged Crystal and sat her down in the sink, Crystal's skirt was pulled up from her hip, Gigi discovered it with her hands and grinned with her lips on other’s lips. Her hands ran through the bronze legs, she loved the warmth of Crystal's skin. The harmony between them enchanted Gigi, no matter how opposite they were. She landed on her neck so she could run her lips through her tanned skin, listening to Crystal's breathing, bit the tender spot under her ear, and heard the redhead girl moan. At that moment she slid her hand between the redhead girl's legs, felt how wet Crystal was from her underwear, which made her even wetter.

She realised how sensitive Crystal’s ear was, and as she bit the same spot, Crystal's voice grew louder and writhing under her hands. Gigi was delighted to find the right spots on the girl's body so quickly. As she left wet kisses behind her ear, she slid her fingers through her underwear, one finger quickly found the way to go.

She felt Crystal's hands in her hair, pulled her lips from her neck and helped her take off her dress with one hand. When her blue dress came off, Crystal was standing in front of her in black underwear, her temples were blushed, her lipstick was spread out, Gigi moved her finger inside, looking into her eyes. Crystal clung to the sink and closed her eyes, her chest rising in deep breaths.

Gigi lowered the girl's bra straps with her teeth, kept moving her finger, grabbed one breast with one hand, her lips found her other breast. When she realised that Crystal was ready for it, she added her second digit along. She sped up her fingers’ pace, finding her rhythm from Crystal's breathing sounds and occasional moans. She sensed that the girl was approaching her climax from the contraction around her digits, she lifted her head and joined her lips to Crystal’s, patted her clit with her palm, and Crystal began to tremble. She pulled away from her lips, kept her rhythm as it is, and watched the best orgasm she had ever seen.

After making sure that Crystal was comfortable, she removed her digits. Crystal was looking at her half-closed eyes, Gigi licked her fingers and smiled. Crystal stretched out her arms and grabbed Gigi's face and clung to her lips. Before she stopped kissing, she climbed down from her seat and pushed the black-haired girl to the toilet behind her. With the lid of the toilet closed, she sat Gigi down there and crouched between her knees.

She parted Gigi's legs, the slit peeled up to her waist, pulled the girl's red underwear aside and met her lips with Gigi's wetness. Gigi threw her head back and focused on Crystal's tongue feeling where she needed it most. She didn’t need to give her directions, Crystal knew exactly what to do. The redhead girl sucked Gigi's clit, her digits found their way through her wet entrance as she had done to her, found her rhythm, accelerated, never pulled her lips off her clit. Crystal sped her fingers up as Gigi muttered her name. Crystal finally let go when Gigi grabbed her hair and pulled her head through her legs.

Before Gigi could catch her breath, she kissed Crystal's lips, pulled her into her lap, and continued to kiss her lips. On the toilet, in the lap of Gigi, Crystal half-naked, her hair scattered, they calmed down together.   
*smut end*

"Did you enjoy it, my girlfriend?" Crystal said with a knowing grin on her face.

Gigi kissed her without bothering to laugh, "Not as much as you did, my girlfriend." said.

Crystal tapped Gigi's shoulder, "I was better, don't lie."

Gigi stood up with Crystal in her lap and slowly put the girl down on her feet, "I'm always better." she said.

Then Gigi dressed Crystal, fixed her makeup. Crystal pulled Gigi's hair back into a bun. They removed traces of lipstick from each other's skin. Gigi unlocked the door, opened it and let Crystal go ahead. She squeezed Crystal’s curvy ass as she passed by. As Crystal bounced and continued walking, Gigi heard her giggle. She closed the bathroom door behind her and settled her poker face and turned to her friends.

*** 

Crystal and Gigi spent several weeks together. By that time, Crystal had gotten a job at school, now part-time she was teaching children her love of art. She did not remember how happy she was doing a job before. Spending time with the kids, telling them how to paint a piece of paper the way they like would open magical doors, seeing the light in their eyes made Crystal fly above the clouds.

The person who witnessed this most closely was Gigi. Gigi had known Crystal at perhaps her worst time, so it was fascinating to see Crystal glow with happiness every day. Crystal was literally glowing, she had a bliss that spread to everyone around her, and Gigi was getting her fair share of energy. The young woman did not want to leave Crystal's side. She wanted to spend every minute with her, she never saw Crystal complaining about it either.

Some days they spent their mornings in bed together. They were just laying under the sheets and talking about everything. Gigi told Crystal about her childhood, her parents, how they got divorced, how hard Gigi had tried to make them get together, and how she never could. Crystal held black-haired girl in her arms all the time she was talking and crying. Gigi didn’t remember when was the last time she cried in front of another person. She cried her eyes out in front of Crystal and it felt so good, she felt peaceful. 

Some days they spent their evenings taking a walk by the beach. Gigi had to carry Crystal’s boots every time, because she couldn’t walk on sand with them, but Gigi never complained. She held Crystal’s hand with her one hand and carried her boots with another. They walked and talked. Crystal sang to her, most of the time her favorites but when she wanted to make Gigi giggle, she sang Gigi's favorites. Like “take on me” by a-ha, this one always made Gigi laugh, because Crystal was killing the song with her crackling voice. 

***

After the walk, they came home starving, and usually ordered dinner. One night Gigi told Crystal to not call anywhere, that she’ll cook dinner. It was very lovely at first, but then Crystal realised Gigi had no idea what she was doing in the kitchen. She was looking very confused and mixing up everything she should use. 

Crystal sat on a chair in the kitchen and waited patiently for Gigi to ask for help. She knew Gigi, if she would offer help, Gigi would never accept it, she was too stubborn for that. So Crystal sat and waited. When Gigi burned the mushrooms that she was trying to cook in a pan, she looked at her girlfriend and smiled like she wanted something. Crystal stood up, went next to Gigi and grabbed the pan, “You can chop the onions, I will take care of it.” she said. 

Crystal cleaned the pan quickly, there were no mushrooms to use anymore, but she didn’t care. She chopped the vegetables, prepared the chicken for cooking, then mixed them all in another pan. Meanwhile Gigi was right next to her and watching carefully what Crystal was doing. After Crystal left ingredients to cook, Gigi wrapped her arms around the other girl’s waist behind her. She put her chin on Crystal’s shoulder and left a kiss on her neck. 

“How long will it take them to cook?” she asked.

Crystal put her hands on her girlfriend’s hands, “Less than 30 minutes, why are you asking?”

Gigi leaned her body against redhead’s behind, “Maybe I can thank you in 30 minutes?” 

“Oh,” Crystal gasped, “Yeah,” she said, “I think you can do that.” 

***

They painted together. Crystal focused all her attention on her canvas, choosing to paint her girlfriend, who painted different patterns. When they both finished with their canvases, Gigi saw the redhead girl draw herself, and then they didn't talk much because Gigi clung to Crystal's lips and it took her a while to let her go. 

***

One day, Gigi took Crystal to her room, blindfolded. Crystal was joking about Gigi's possible sexual fantasies, but she also felt her heart pounding in her throat as it could be real. When Gigi opened the redhead girl's eyes, Crystal came across three colossal images against the wide black wall. The pictures were from Gigi and Crystal's first photo shoot, creating a trio composition describing their first contact, and the photos glowed colorfully, unsuitable for Gigi's room.

When Crystal turned to Gigi, not knowing what to say, the black-haired girl started talking. "At that moment I realized how different and special you were." she reached out and held her hands, keeping her eyes on her hazel eyes. "The moment your fingers touched my fingers I knew you were for me."

"Gee, I don't know what to say." Crystal reached out and kissed her girlfriend, giggling as she backed away, seeing the question mark expression on Gigi's face, she explained, "You think it wouldn't be better if they were black and white?"

Gigi grabbed the girl's face, "You're the rainbow in my black and white world, there's no way those pictures are black and white, baby."

***

Another day, they had a picnic on the beach, bought a margarita pizza from Gigi's favorite place, accompanied by Crystal's favorite white wine. After feeding her bellies, Gigi took off her roller skates from her bag. Crystal clapped her hands and said how excited she was to see Gigi skating, but Gigi's smile turned into a broad grin and she pulled out another pair of roller skates from her bag.

"Oh no!" Crystal said, burying her fingers in the sand, as if she could hold on.

Gigi nodded with a grin, "Time to learn to skate!" she said and put on her own roller skates. Then she helped Crystal put on her skates, as she closed her ears to all the redhead girl's protests and pretended not to hear her.

As the sun set over the ocean, Gigi was holding Crystal by hand, helping her balance and skate by giving simple instructions. As the sun was already gone and the streetlights began to light along the beach, Crystal was able to skate on her own. Still, she had one hand clasped into Gigi's hand and refused to let go until she took the skates off her feet.

***

They were spending their time alone as well as with their friends. The whole group quickly adopted the new couple among them. They also noticed that Nicky gave Jan 20 dollars, almost crying.

Gigi immediately said, "What's going on there?"

Jan smiled, showing all her teeth, and said, "I won the bet.”, as if she was talking about something very simple.

"What bet?" Crystal asked.

Nicky pointed to the couple, "We made a bet as to whether or not you two would be together." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, said, "I thought I won, but suddenly you came together."

“I never doubted this cold slut was going to pick up the rainbow girl,” Jan said as she proudly put the $ 20 she earned into her wallet. Crystal chuckled.

Watching Crystal's smile, Gigi felt as if she was overwhelmed by the magnitude of her feelings for the girl. She took a deep breath, and realized that the reason she felt like she was choking wasn't because of her love for Crystal, it was the fear of losing Crystal.

***

When Crystal's phone rang, they were lying on the sofa with Gigi, watching the musical movie Les Misérables they could not finish before. Crystal was lying on her back, Gigi's head was against Crystal's chest, and she was literally lying on her. Crystal didn't complain.

She reached for her phone on the coffee table, frowning when she saw the caller’s name, while Gigi had stopped the movie. Crystal answered the phone nervously, "Hello?"

Gigi could tell that the voice on the other side was from a man but couldn't hear what he was saying. She slowly lifted herself off Crystal and sat on a single seated couch. Deep inside, Gigi was sure who she was talking to, and that didn't make Gigi feel good at all.

"Yes, I'm fine, how are you?" Crystal said, not looking at Gigi.

Gigi couldn't sit there and went to the kitchen, poured herself a large glass of water, drank it all. She leaned against the kitchen counter and kept repeating to herself that she had nothing to worry about. Crystal was in the kitchen a few minutes later. She leaned her arms on the kitchen counter from either side of Gigi, leaned her face against the tall girl's neck, and gave a small kiss. Gigi wrapped her arms around the redhead girl's waist because she had to do it, but she knew she was worried all over her body. 

“Brad wants to speak with me.”


	11. You're the only one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so here we are at the end, first of all this is my first multichaptered story, i know it's still short but i wanted to tell a love story that we can actually find in real world. I mean, yeah, there are no Crystal or Gigi for us, we know that, but i think all of Crystals have their Gigis, and all of Gigis can find their Crystals.   
> I want to thank all of my baddies, i started to write again bc of them, kisses for them xxx  
> Berk, Berrin, Mal, Minnie were the greatest supporters from the start, then i won great readers, who showed me their support and love on everywhere!! I'm so grateful for your comments, tweets. It is the best result for me that knowing some people enjoyed what i wrote, i thank you all, truly, deeply.  
> Yes! I'm emotinal, and the song for this chapter is:   
> so emotinal by glee cast, or you can just watch the rpdr s9 finale ;)  
> love y'all,  
> Ness.

Gigi was in her room, her eyes hovering over the photographs on her opposite wall. She knew that Crystal was now with Brad. She had called her as she left the house, and she knew that after meeting Brad, she would call again. In fact she thought she knew.

Whenever Crystal's ex's name flashed in her brain, the man's words started ringing in her ears again.

"You're just a fad, Gigi Goode, I'm the man she fell in love with."

Gigi had heard the same words over and over from the man's voice all day long. She knew why Crystal had agreed to meet that man, the girl had explained to her. She did not want to be bad with the person she spent 3 years with, she wanted to leave him well, so that she could leave those bad memories behind. She was aware of how much Crystal had been affected by the bad energy. She wanted her girlfriend to feel good, but she wasn't feeling well at all.

She got up from her bed and went into the kitchen to prepare food to keep herself busy. She didn't even know what to do, started by heating the water for pasta. She remembered, there was pesto sauce in the fridge. When she opened the fridge, she saw the half sandwich Crystal had left there. Last night Nicky even joked about it. She couldn't remember what happened at that moment, her head was completely filled with Crystal again.

What if Brad became the old Brad he was talking about? What if Crystal thinks the man she fell in love with is back? What if she leaves Gigi and turns back to Brad?

She closed the fridge and leaned her forehead against the cool surface, wasn't she really trusting Crystal? If she already had doubts about Crystal, how healthy was their relationship? How could she trust a girl she had known for only a few months?

She remembered how confident Brad was when talking about Crystal. Crystal had entered her life just as the man had described, slipped like a sunshine into her life, brought color to her black and white world, and maybe now she was about to go. Gigi couldn't allow that. She had never been abandoned, she had always been the one who left because she was never committed to anyone.

She leaned her back against the fridge and falled down on her heels. Was she committed to Crystal? Brad had said that Crystal was in love with him. Was she really so? They never talked about love with Crystal. Gigi had shown her that she liked her in different ways, as did Crystal. Oh, Crystal had shown it to Gigi really good.

But they never talked about commitment. If there was no such relationship between them, was there any need for a relationship? Gigi stood up. She couldn't bear the idea of Crystal can leave her. She knew what to do.

***

Crystal was sitting opposite of Brad. She had ordered lemonade, and Brad had ordered black coffee. Crystal noticed that the man looked much healthier. This made her happy.

"Thank you, Crystal, for coming." Brad said, and Crystal just smiled. She wanted to hear what the man wanted to say.

“You must be wondering why I called you.” Brad said as if reading her mind.

"Yes." Crystal said briefly.

Brad straightened in his seat, “I didn't want the last time we see each other to stay like that, Cryssie. I've been thinking ever since I left the house, and finally I went to a therapist, following your advice. ” he said, it was obvious that he was speaking in distress.

Crystal let him speak in silence. Brad continued, “I learned that I am depressed, and I am being treated. Meanwhile, I realized how bad times I really could have given you, and I want to say that I regret everything I said to you recently. ”

Crystal reached out and took the man's hand, “I'm so glad you got the help you need, Brad.” she said sincerely.

“I know I wasn’t the best boyfriend, but I want you to know that Crystal,” he looked deeply in Crystal’s hazel eyes, “I loved you, I cared about you so much, before anything else you were my best friend.” he said.

Crystal believed in every word that the man said, because she knew him so well, she could see in his eyes that he was not lying. Not this time. She couldn’t help but believe him. 

Brad smiled, “Though I knew this wouldn't change anything for our relationship, I wish I had noticed it earlier, got help sooner, and hadn't said all that I said.”

"I forgot all of it." Crystal said with a smile. "The important thing is your own health, you're still precious to me Brad, I don't hate you, I can never hate you, even though our last couple of months were bad times, we have more good times."

"Thank you Cryssie, really, you're still approaching me this kind of way after all."

“You were my best friend too Brad, we spent 3 years together, and believe me I loved you too.” Crystal took a deep breath before continuing, “When I realized it was already over for me, I still waited for you to realize that too.” she looked at him and saw that he was calmly listening to her, she relieved, "I’m happt that you realized it now, and after all you know me, I'm too dumb to hold a grudge." they laughed together.

Brad asked with some timidity, “Do you see Gigi? Are you two together?"

"Yeah, why did you ask?" 

The man cleared his throat, "I don't think she would want to meet with me, but I said very cruel things to her when she came to the house, Crystal, can I ask you to apologize to her for me?"

Crystal nodded, "Of course I'll do it." said. She smiled again.

"You look happy, Cryssie."

"I am, Boo."

"Say I thank Gigi for that, too."

Crystal chuckled.

***

Crystal called Gigi on her way home, but the call was not answered.

Crystal called Gigi before she went to sleep, but the call was not answered.

The next day Crystal called Gigi three times, texted her 7 times, none of them was answered.

Crystal finally decided to call Nicky. Although she didn't want to involve other people in their relationship, she could only think of Gigi's roommate. After waiting a while Nicky picked up the phone.

"Hi, Crystal."

Crystal knew immediately that there was something awkward in her tone. Also, the noise coming from behind her rather than Nicky's voice bothered her ear. Nicky must have been in a very crowded and noisy place.

"I wouldn't want to bother you, Nicky, but I can't reach Gigi, do you know where she is?" she asked, biting her lower lip as she waited for an answer.

“Gigi is with me,” Nicky said. Crystal breathed a sigh of relief at this. The blonde girl continued to speak, "We had a vacation plan, Gigi must have told you, we're in Vegas right now."

Crystal felt her breath sink into her lungs, hurt as if her ribs were broken. "Yes," she said, pushing herself, "I must have forgotten." she added. She wanted to end the conversation without cracking her voice. "Sorry to bother you Nicky, have fun there." she said and hung up.

She dropped herself onto the nearest seat, her eyes locked on the wall before her. The pictures her and Gigi made hung on the yellow wall. Seeing the figures drawn by Gigi made her chest even more tight. She knew that girl enough to realize that Gigi was running from her. In fact, she knew the girl so well that Gigi ignored her without saying anything, that behavior scared Crystal.

They hadn't had a single day without talking to each other since the day Crystal went to see Gigi in Malibu. Even if they could not meet, they definitely talked on the phone, they were telling each other how their day went. In fact, Gigi was delighted to tell Crystal about the men who were interested in her on set, asked for her number, or asked her out. Though Crystal said she wasn't jealous, Gigi claimed that the girl was jealous but that she was just hiding it very well. Like all of their discussions, those debates generally ended when one of them was sitting on the lap of the other.

Crystal had no idea what to do. Nicky could have been telling the truth. They could have gone to Las Vegas. Whether Gigi was at home now or in another city, she was sure she was running away from her and didn't want to see Crystal. So she decided to give the girl time, realizing that even if she goes to her house and kicks the door of her room now, she wouldn't get any results. In half an hour she had to leave the house and go to work, maybe the kids at school could help her, and distract her.

***

Gigi kicked the cardigan on herself and got out of bed. She and Nicky were back from their Las Vegas vacation. In fact, it had been 8 days since she had seen Crystal, and Gigi kept counting every day. Crystal had stopped calling her after talking to Nicky. As much as Gigi kept telling herself that this was the best, the fact that the girl stopped looking for her was perhaps the most heartbreaking thing. Crystal had given up.

Gigi wanted that, too. At least that's what she reminded herself of. She wanted it to be like that. She didn't want to reconnect with Crystal, freed the girl as she wanted to be. Also, she herself did not want to be restricted by a relationship. She had to be free herself too. Gigi had to be free. If Crystal was turning to her ex, that wasn't a problem at all. Gigi was fine. 

She got out of the shower and looked at herself in the mirror. Gigi wasn't fine at all. She looked awful. Her under eyes were bruised because some days she did not sleep at all, and some days she was completely asleep. She noticed that the bones on her face had become more noticeable because she had lost weight. Before Jaida realized this, she had to go back to her own weight. Otherwise her manager would be really mad at her.

After she finished her work in the bathroom, she put on new pajamas and went to the living room. Nicky was sitting in a single seat eating a bowl of cereal. "Good morning." Gigi muttered quietly and sat in the seat opposite.

“Good morning Ms. Goode. ” Nicky said, "Now that we're home, will you tell me what happened?"

"No."

The blonde girl set the bowl in her hand on the table, “I swear Gigi, you don't want me to repeat this. Tell me what happened. Now."

"Nothing."

"What's going on with Crystal, Gigi?"

Gigi suddenly stood up and paused for a moment with dizziness. She had to eat something, but she didn't care. She returned to her room without replying to Nicky any further. She never planned to leave her room for the day.

***

Crystal knew that Gigi and Nicky were back. Jackie had officially done her best so Crystal could find out. Now Crystal was making excuses for herself not to kick Gigi's door. Gigi was running from her, but should Crystal follow her? She had given her time to enjoy her vacation, and to think about them if she had any questions. She didn't think she could go on with her life without talking about this any more.

She had never called Gigi again, but that didn't mean she didn't hear from her. Even though Crystal didn't want it, Jackie and Jaida were telling her about Gigi whenever they got a chance. Thanks to this, Crystal even heard that the girl was losing weight. She had gone on vacation and had lost weight. Everyone was aware of the mistake here. Someone had to do something now, that person was Crystal.

She couldn't let Gigi run away any more. If she wanted to leave her, she had to do so by looking at her face. Obviously, this obscurity and anticipation were not good for either. She had to face Gigi. She should have looked at the beautiful face of the girl, her icy blue eyes and could say goodbye if necessary.

Crystal called Nicky, Nicky answered the call and said that Gigi was sick and didn't get out of bed all day.

Crystal said she could come and take care of Gigi. Nicky conveyed that Gigi said it was not necessary.

Crystal didn’t care what Gigi said. She hung up the phone and went to Gigi and Nicky’s house. She couldn't bear to be fooled like she was an idiot. Maybe she was acting with anger, but her rational side was not talking to her at the moment. She had to press the bell three times until the door opened. When the door finally opened, Nicky greeted her with an uncomfortable smile. "You didn't need to come, Crystal." she said as she entered.

"I know, I came because I wanted to." Crystal said, and headed straight for the black door, into Gigi's room.

Nicky came after her, "Ah, Gigi is in the shower." said.

Crystal turned to Nicky in astonishment, the blonde girl was literally lying . "Are you fucking kidding me?" she said, her voice suddenly louder. "I only have one question for you Nicky, why is my fucking girlfriend avoiding me for the fuck’s sake?"

Nicky breathed a loud sigh and took a few steps back, pointing to Gigi's room, "This is all from me Gigi, you guys should solve your issues alone, I’m done." she said loudly and went to her own room.

Crystal didn't knock on the door, opened the black door, went inside and found Gigi standing in the middle of the room. She was wearing one of her mini shorts and a sports bra that she wore when she goes to sleep. Her long black hair was gathered over her shoulder in a single braid. She looked annoyingly beautiful, and Crystal felt her heart ache.

"What the fuck is going on, Gee?" Crystal dropped her purse on the other girl’s bed and approached her with a few steps.

Gigi shrugged, "It's nothing, Crystal, what did you think was going on?" she said in a monotonous voice.

Crystal understood that the girl across who wasn’t looking at her eyes was the first Gigi she met. Her tone of voice, look, stance, everything was Gigi, the icy queen. Crystal wanted to cry. “You don't pick up my phones, you suddenly go on vacation, you never call me. I don't understand what's going on, and you will tell me, now. " she said, trying to keep her voice as sharp as possible. Now was not the time to show off her fragility.

"I thought the fun time was over." Gigi said, her eyes running away from Crystal's.

"What does that mean, Gee?"

Gigi tied her arms around her chest and finally looked into the girl's eyes, "I thought that now that your boyfriend is back, you can continue your relationship with him, because there is nothing like a serious relationship between us."

Crystal couldn’t help but talk in anger. "You didn't look like you have no serious relationship with me when you were fucking me softly and with that lover look on your face." 

Gigi took a few steps towards Crystal and made her back to push against the wall. She looked at her like she couldn't say the exact things she has in her mind. "Shut up!" she said. 

"Why? Or will you fuck me hard now? To show me how much you hate me?" Crystal said, she never felt this way before, it was the first time that she was not the coward one, she was the brave one. 

"You're such a coward. " Crystal said, while she was staring directly into Gigi's eyes. She didn't yell. She didn't need to yell, her face was so close to the taller girl's face now. "We had the chance to experience something that is special to us." She pushed her finger to Gigi's chest. "You only needed to face a challenge and in that exact moment you gave up."

Crystal told herself she wouldn't run away this time, this time she'd face everything, no matter what. She wanted to learn what Gigi's real issue was. So she could have her girlfriend again.

Gigi could see the disappointment in Crystal's eyes. "Why did you go to him, when he called?" black-haired girl looked like she was defeated. "Why did you need to make peace with him? Is he that much important to you?"

"This is me, Gigi. You don't need to understand every decision I make, you just need to be next to me with every decision I make." Crystal looked into the icy blue eyes, which made her heart melt. 

"You know why I met Brad, Gee," she said, not letting the blue eyes glance away, "to forgive the bad things that happened between us." She moved forward and moved a little closer to Gigi, “And so it went how I wanted. Brad apologized, and I forgive him. I forgive the things he has done in the past because I don't want to carry them like burdens into the future which I hope will be with you. ”

Gigi looked up and finally looked into Crystal's eyes, "Brad also apologized to you, saying that he had said very cruel things to you and that he regretted them all." Crystal reached out and grabbed Gigi's hands and intertwined their fingers, "He also asked me to thank you, for making me so happy." 

"I know you were in love with him, I mean he told me about you two," Gigi glanced away, "and I know that love can be pretty hard to forget."

Crystal knew that she was finally getting into Gigi's mind. "I don't have to forget him, I will remember him as my old friend, I needed to forgive him to let him go, and I did. I need only you now, no one else."

"Are you sure, I'm the only one?" Gigi asked while she was wrapping her arms around the redhead, to hold her close.

Crystal held the other girl's face with her hands. "I'm in love with you, you're the one that I want." She pulled the taller girl to herself and kissed her plump lips. It felt like she was home again. Like she's in her safe space. 

Gigi, before kissing the scarlet-haired girl, whispered to her lips, “Nope, I’m the one who is in love, deeply, truly, madly.” She pressed her lips to Crystal’s soft lips, she could feel her heart was beating again.

“I hope it’s me, who you’re in love with.” Crystal said, when she pulled her lips away. 

"I need to ask you something." Gigi said, looked so serious, that Crystal felt a little uncomfortable. She nodded her head to make Gigi continue. "Talking about fucking got me thinking, especially about the hard one you were talking about."

Crystal gasped and hit Gigi's arm, "I hope it's enough hard for you, you nasty lady!"

Gigi laughed with the girl in her arms and gave her little pecks. She didn't want to stop kissing Crystal. She wanted the whole world to stop and live in that moment forever.

"I love you." Gigi said for the first time in her life. She was always so scared to tell these words, but she never felt better than this.

"I love you more, Gee." 

Gigi kissed Crystal. Crystal still cried a little bit. Gigi laughed at her. But they were happy as any other normal couple. 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This was kind of a warm up for the story and characters. I hope you like it, we have a journey with redhead Crystal and queen of ice Gigi ;)  
> Pls comment your thoughts about this, so we can chat a little ^^  
> you can find me @methyds on twitter, love u all <3


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